The Best Years of My Life
by Tiger-Cub684
Summary: A Marauder tale with a twist. A character who practices advanced magic and who posses amazing abilities. Will she help the marauders or tear them apart? Chapter 14 now up!
1. All Alone

**Author's Note: Welcome dear people to my Marauder Fic. This is completely mine, unlike the other marauder fic you will find on my profle, and that one is only co written by me. Discombobulated.shoe is the other co author. This fic my convey some crazy ideas which may or may not have been used here before. But bare with me, if you like a good marauder tale with adventure, humor and the whole James/Lily romance stuff (not too much of that) then, stick around, you might just like this story. **

**Remember, R&R, and tell me what you think. please. **

**Disclaimer: I own no rights to Harry Potter or anything like that, but the maraders own a place in my heart. **

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The Best Years of My Life

Chapter 1 – All Alone (Simone's P.O.V)

I stood there, completely overwhelmed, gazing over the mass of people before me. There were people everywhere; left, right and centre; all busy rushing to the train, making sure they had everything. It wasn't my first visit to Platform 9 ¾, but this time, it was a lot scarier. I dropped my heavy trunk on the ground, and promptly sat on it, tired, even though it was only ten o'clock in the morning. In my hand, I clutched my letter, its contents I'd read over a thousand times before. It had read:

_Dearest Simone_

_Terrible news, I am so very sorry, but unfortunately, I cannot come with you to the platform. Some unexpected business has popped up and I am unable to get away. I am already at Hogwarts. I tried to contact someone else to see you off, but everyone is also busy with their own affairs. I hope to see you when you get to school, and if not, please come to my office tomorrow morning before breakfast. _

_Once again, terribly sorry,_

_Yours Sincerely_

_Great Uncle A _

The emerald green, curved handwriting still glistened in the light, mimicking the tears welling up in my eyes. I blinked them away and decided to distract myself by looking at the swelling crowd. Among the many students of various ages, I spotted a boy, of about 11, with longish black hair, being given some kind of lecture by a very strict looking set of parents. I fine tuned my hearing and focused on the scene.

"…and you had better be good son, I will not have you bringing dishonour to the proud name of Black!" The stern man said.

"It is your duty to follow in the footsteps of your ancestors and be the greatest Slytherin ever to come through Hogwarts. And no funny business, like from your cousin Edith's last birthday. If one word of anything like that comes home, we'll write you out of the will, and your brother Regulus will inherit everything." Said the pale, black clad women next to him.

"Fine, whatever Mother." Replied the black-haired boy, offhandedly.

"Don't you use that tone with me boy-" Started the woman, before she was stopped by her husband.

"That's enough dear, if he hasn't learnt it by now, then it's not worth teaching him. The school will teach him respect. It's what we pay them for." He reassured.

Deciding that I'd had enough of the sufferings of the poor black-haired kid, and I searched elsewhere. Soon, I discovered another black-haired boy, but this time he had glasses and his hair was all scruffy. His parents didn't look as scary, so I decided to take a closer look.

"…Okay dear, remember to have fun. And I want you to write at least once a week," Said a kind brunette.

"I will Mum." Replied the boy.

"And be good," said a tall, black haired man, "and remember to study hard and learn all you can and-"

"Yes Dad, I'll miss you too." Interrupted the boy.

"I can't believe my boy's growing up. I love you James." Said his mother; her eyes welling up in tears. She reached down to hug her beloved son.

"I love you too Mum and Dad." He said.

"Good luck Son." Said the man, before giving him a brief one-armed hug.

"Bye!" Called the boy, as he turned away, towards the train.

The happy family moment ended, I looked elsewhere, and spotted yet another interesting scene. A podgy boy and his podgy mother. _Coincidence? I think not._

"…and I don't want to get any complaints from the school saying you're failing. You had better study hard." Said the podgy woman.

"I will Mother." Replied her son, turning to leave.

"And Peter, one more thing," she said.

"Yes?" He asked, turning back to face her.

"I'll miss you dear; don't forget to write now and then. I want to hear of all your adventures." She said, suddenly becoming all mother-like. She pulled her son in for an awkward embrace before letting him go.

"Bye Peter, good luck!" she called.

_Strange. So, so strange_. I searched the slowly declining crowd for a few more "happy family" scenes to watch, before I had to sadly walk onto the train, all dejected like. I briefly saw a red-haired girl with her parents, but it looked as if their farewell was over, so there was no point in just watching her walk away. I then noticed a pale kid, nervously talking with his kind looking father.

"Don't worry; things will turn out just fine. You'll see." The kind man reassured the boy.

"It's just, what happens if people find out?" he asked.

"Nothing, because they won't find out. The only way people are going to find out is if you tell them. Just relax, everything will be fine." Said the man,

The boy looked rather sceptical, but quickly hid it.

"Now just go there and enjoy yourself." Said the man, sounding more like a request than a farewell.

"Ok dad, I will." Said the boy.

After a quick goodbye and a hug, the boy turned to leave, reminding me that it was time for me to go too. I sighed, picked up my trunk and slowly headed towards the train, towards a new part of life I could have never prepared for.

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**I realise that this chapter was a bit short, but it shouldn't take long for the next one to come. It includes, the first meeting of Sirius and Snape and the eatting of many chocolate frogs. Be sure to catch it, especially if you liked this one. Please Read and Review, it really helps with the story, and it gives YOU the power to alter possible furutre chapters. If an idea or suggestion is good enough, i won't ignore it. **

**See you on chapter 2! R&R**


	2. Strange Acquaintances

**Authors Note: Hello everyone. Welcome to the second chapter of my new and original Marauder story. Well, i hope it is original. It isn't like any i have read, so as far as i know, it is original. Anyway, thank you Flutterby Princess and discombobulated.shoe for their kind reviews. I hope others will follow their examples. Well, here it is, Chapter 2. Enjoy and remember to R&R!**

**Disclaimer: The only character i own here is Simone. But i have plans and am currently working on the rest. Evil laugh Muhahahahahahaha**

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Chapter 2 – Strange Acquaintances. (3rd Person P.O.V)

Inside the train, the queue of students moved slowly. Sirius Black was beginning to wonder if he would be there all day. He sighed impatiently as something down the line caused everyone to move back a few steps. Unfortunately, his sighing caught the attention of someone most undesirable.

"Hey, aren't you that Black kid?" Asked a greasy looking boy with a big nose.

"So? What's it to you?" Sirius threw back, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"I heard you're a blood-traitor." Sneered the boy.

Sirius clenched his fists and gave the boy a dark look.

The boy continued. "And I also heard that your father whished that you had been born a girl, because he said anything is better than a blood-trai-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, because Sirius had punched him right in his big, hooked nose, resulting in a loud crack. A teacher, a middle aged woman with wild red hair, ugly green glasses and a temper as wild as her hair, quickly rushed over to investigate the commotion.

"Mr. Black, we haven't even started moving and already you are causing trouble!" said the red headed teacher, her hat dangling dangerously close to falling off. "When we get to Hogwarts, it's a detention for you. And you Mr. Snape should know better. You also get a detention. No buts. You are both to report to my office tomorrow morning at seven o'clock sharp."

The woman then healed Snape's broken nose and sent them both to different compartments to "think about what they had done".

Meanwhile, James Potter was also in the crowd. Moments later, a sixth year called out that a fight had begun further up. Suddenly everyone was craning their necks, trying to see the fight. The same sixth year later told everyone that it had been broken up by a teacher. This resulted in a lot of disappointed sighing and moaning, and a few curses in the teachers' direction. After a while, the crowd slowly progressed forward into the next section of the train. Because he was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic at being squashed in the throng, James made his way over to the nearest compartment and opened the door.

"Do you mind if I join you?" He politely asked the black-haired boy inside.

"Whatever." The boy replied gloomily.

Taking it as a 'yes', James quickly went inside, stashed away his trunk in the overhead racks and sat on the bench opposite the boy.

"I'm James Potter." He greeted, offering his hand.

"Sirius Black." Said Sirius half-heartedly, ignoring his offer.

James withdrew his hand. "So…I heard that a fight got started before." He said, in an attempt to make conversation.

"I know, that was me." Replied Sirius.

"Really? Who with?"

"Some kid called Snape. He called me a blood-traitor and insulted my family, so I broke his big nose."

"Cool!"

"Not that I really care about my family, but it was the principle. And no-one calls _me_ a blood-traitor."

"You don't like your family?"

"Nah, a bunch of interbred pure bloods. Nasty people with no concern for anyone else but themselves. Hate the lot of them." Sirius said bitterly.

"Okay then." Said James, unsure of how to respond.

It wasn't long before the train set off, and the lunch lady arrived, with a tray full of tasty treats.

"No thank you," said Sirius, when she asked if he wanted anything, "I've lost my appetite."

"What about you dear?" She asked James.

"Sure, I'll take two pumpkin pasties and forty chocolate frogs please." He said.

"Forty? Are you sure young man?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I'm really hungry." Replied James, flashing a charm-filled smile.

"Okay dear." She said, before she got out her wand, flicked it a few times, and two pumpkin pasties and forty chocolate frogs flew out of the trolley and landed gracefully on the seat next to James.

"That will be ten Galleons please." She said.

James handed her the money, and the lunch lady continued on to the next compartment.

"That's a lot of food." Said Sirius, eyeing the frogs.

"I know; I got enough for both of us."

"…you didn't have to."

"Don't worry about it. Here, have some frogs." Said James, giving Sirius a whole heap of frogs.

"Thanks."

And the great feast of pasties and chocolate frogs began.

Meanwhile, Simone was making her way through the train. After a while, she found an empty compartment and went inside. She had just stashed her trunk in the luggage rack overhead and sat down when the door slid open, and the girl with red hair from before stepped in.

"Is there room here for me?" She asked.

"Sure." Replied Simone, gesturing to the mostly empty cabin.

She sat down on the bench opposite to her.

"I'm Lily."

"Simone." She replied.

"So, first year...you nervous?"

"You kidding? I've never been so nervous, and I once faced a pack of hungry giant werewolves!"

"Wow, really?"

"Well, actually, they were just normal wolves, but they _were _really big and hungry."

"That's still pretty impressive."

"Thanks." She smiled.

While all this was happening, Peter Pettigrew was walking down the hall in the train, when a door to his right slid open. A fifth year with dark hair poked his head out and called to Peter.

"Hey, kid, do you need a compartment? Why don't you come in here with us?"

"Umm, okay." Said Peter, never having learnt the term "Stranger Danger".

Peter entered the compartment to see four other fifth year boys, all sitting and looking at him. One of the boys slid over and told Peter to sit next to him. Peter nervously obeyed.

"So, kid, you're a first year, right?" Asked one with blonde streaks.

All Peter could do was nod sheepishly.

"You wanna know how they sort everyone into houses?"

Again, Peter nodded.

"Well, first, they lock you in this room, with this giant dragon. How you fight the dragon is what determines your house. Those do-gooder Gryffindors usually end up trying to talk to the dragon, or stun it or something wimpy like that. They sometimes get eaten. The Ravenclaws try to look up something in a book. They also often get eaten. The Hufflepuffs mostly try to make friends about with it. Again, most of them get eaten. Now, the mighty Slytherins, they're smart. They usually manage to defeat the dragon with a single spell. They don't get eaten. And the people who do nothing and get eaten; they're sent back home."

The room erupted in hysterical and cruel laughter. Peter, who didn't find any of this funny at all and was rather scared, made a cowardly yelp and ran from the compartment, causing the boys to laugh even more. Peter ran until he could run no more, right in front of another compartment. He slid open the door to see two boys of his own age, one with glasses and the other with long black hair, both eating chocolate frogs.

"Oh, hey, do you need a compartment?" Asked the one with glasses.

"Um, yeah, if you have room." Replied Peter.

"Sure, come in." Said the other boy, moving some empty chocolate frog boxes off the seat.

Peter sat down.

"Here have some chocolate. I'm James by the way, and this is Sirius." Said Glasses.

"I'm Peter." He said, before starting on his pile of frogs.

During this time, yet another boy was wondering the corridors. He was pale, tall, had red-brown hair and his name was Remus. Still dragging his book-filled trunk along behind him, Remus had been searching for an empty compartment since the train had started moving, well over an hour ago. Accepting that there probably weren't any empty compartments left, he resolved to find one with only a few people. And preferably people his age, rather than older students who might bully him. Moments later, his wish was granted when he came to a cabin with only two girls, his own age, one blonde and the other a red-head, sitting inside. Seeing as it was most likely the closest he would get to being all alone, short of sitting in the corridor, he knocked on the door and slid it open.

"Hi, I was wondering if I could come in, everywhere else is full." He asked, shakily.

"Sure, come in." Replied the blonde girl. "I'm Simone, and this is Lily."

"Hello." Said Lily.

"Remus." He said, sitting down next to Lily.

"So, Remus, you're a bit late in finding a compartment." Said Simone.

"I was trying to find an empty one." He said quietly.

"That's no fun; part of the experience of being on the Hogwarts Express is meeting people you have never before seen in your life. And besides, six hours is along time to sit all alone."

"How do you know all about this?" asked Lily.

"Oh, I've been to Hogwarts tons of times. Not always by train, but enough times so I know how long it will take."

"How can you have been to Hogwarts before?"

"Oh, no reason." Said Simone quickly, not wanting to reveal so much to people she had just met.

"Okay then." Said Remus, catching on to Simone's abrupt dismissal. "So, Simone, what kind of accent is that?"

"It's Australian. I'm from Australia."

"Really? Is it nice there?" Asked Lily.

"Yeah, it's great. Nice weather, unique wildlife. What's not to like, except for the lack of snow. But that's why I come to England." She smiled.

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**I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I had fun writing it. The next one should come quickly, as i have already written it, and it is now in the editing stages. But now that school has started, there may be a delay. It should be up by the end of the week. Until then, remember to Review and feel free to send me a message or read any of the other stories from my Profile. **

**Farewell.**

**Tiger-Cub684**


	3. Revenge

**Authors Note: Hello again people. I am pleased to announce that my hits counter has reached 50 ! yay, it is quite an accievement for me, considering that this story only had 2 chapters when it reached that number. I thank you all for your contributions. Thank you. **

**Also, a thank you to Flutterby Princess and Discombobulated.shoe for their reviews. Most appreciated. **

**Now, let us move on to the next chapter. Onward!**

**Dsiclaimer: You know the drill. No owership claimed. Except for Simone. She's all me. **

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Chapter 3 - Revenge

In the boy's compartment…

"So Peter," started Sirius, his mouth full of chocolate, "why did you look like you had run a marathon when you came here?"

"Oh, that's because I was running from my last compartment." Said Peter, equally stuffing his face with frogs.

"Why?" Asked James

"Well, I was in there with five Fifth Years, and they were telling me about the sorting. I don't know if it was true or not, but they said that we have to fight dragons and the ones who do nothing are sent home. If I faced a dragon, I would probably be sent home. I was so scared, and they were mean, so I ran out, and ended up here. Do you guy's know if we _do_ have to face dragons?"

Sirius and James burst out laughing.

"Are you kidding Peter? We're first years; of course we're not going to have to fight dragons." Said Sirius, in between laughter.

"Yeah, my cousin Iggy says it's some kind of magical device that decides for us determined on our past and personality," said James, "Iggy is a Sixth Year."

"Damn it! I'm doomed to be in Slytherin!" Said Sirius, angrily.

"What makes you think that?" Asked James.

"Everyone in my family has always been in Slytherin. I hate my family. I really don't want to be in their precious house."

"Oh, well, maybe you will be put differently." Said Peter hopefully.

"Anyway, Peter, what those older kids did to you was very mean. How about we get some revenge?" Offered James.

"What do you have in mind James?" Asked Sirius, suddenly interested.

James pulled down his trunk and got out a chest. He tapped the chest three times with his wand and opened the latch. Inside was a mountain load of prank items: dung bombs, firecrackers, acid candy, sneezing powder, and all other kinds of items designed to entertain at the expense of others.

"I think a nice firecracker will do." Said James, choosing a bright red one.

"Man, I have so much respect for you right now, James Potter." Said Sirius, eyeing the items as if they were worth more than life itself.

"This is going to be good!" Said Peter.

About ten minutes later, after they located Peter's old compartment, Sirius was holding the cracker, and James was on Peter's shoulders, attempting to open the ventilation grid above the solid door. James spat on the rusty old latch, and managed to quietly slide it away, and slowly open the grid. Sirius handed him the firecracker and James rested it on the edge. He got out his wand and tapped it. The firecracker instantly burst into life and jumped out of James' hand and into the room. James jumped off Peter's shoulders and they all marvelled at the screaming of the fifth years and the sound of the cracker bouncing off the walls.

The three boys were rolling on the floor in fits of uncontrollable laughter, when they heard someone fumbling with the door handle. The pranksters ran for their lives back to their compartment before they could be pinned for the damage.

Meanwhile the train was nearing its destination and the sky had darkened. The boys made an effort to change into their robes once they were safely back in their compartment, but there was trouble elsewhere.

"Okay guys, we have a problem." Announced Simone.

"What is it?" Asked Remus.

"We have to change for school, and this compartment is a little too small for privacy."

"Well, how about we change first, Simone, and Remus can stand in the corner with a robe over his head." Suggested Lily.

"I don't know if I like that idea." Said Remus.

"I know," said Simone, "Remus can stand in the corridor, with his back to the window, while we change with a make-shift curtain separating the compartment, so we can each have privacy, and then we can move into one of the sections while Remus comes in and changes in the other. What do you think?"

"How are we going to put up a make-shift curtain?" Asked Lily.

"Easy!" Said Simone as she clicked her fingers. Seconds later, a bright blue curtain, hanging from the ceiling to two inches above the ground, flowed out of the wall and separated the compartment into two halves, right down the middle.

"How in the name of Merlin did you do that?" Asked Remus, speechless.

"Oh, it's just something I learnt somewhere…" Said Simone, trailing off.

So Remus went out into the corridor and Lily went into the other side of the compartment. Minutes later, the girls were changed and Remus came back inside. Simone and Lily were sitting in the other side, quietly talking when a loud screeching noise was heard and the train lurched forward.

Lily managed to grasp the window in time and stayed put, but Simone fell through the curtain, into the other side to see Remus, topless with a multitude of scars and scratches all over his body. Remus was so startled at Simone's sudden arrival that all he could do was stand there and stare, until he realised he had almost no clothes on and quickly reached for his robes. Simone, also suffering a delayed reaction, quickly crawled back into the other side of the compartment.

It wasn't long until the train started moving again. Once Remus was changed, the blue curtain flowed back into the wall from which it came, and a nosy Third Year girl poked her head in their compartment to tell them that the train had suddenly stopped to let a family of baby ducks cross the tracks.

Simone, Lily and Remus sat in silence. Simone and Remus were avoiding confronting each other about the previous incident, and Lily was too afraid to break the silence to ask what had happened. So the three students sat there, and remained so until the train finally arrived at its destination, just outside Hogwarts.

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**And we come to the end of another chapter. Oh woe is me. Parhaps the next one will be soon. I can promise you some intersting events and the Sorting of the many important people. **

**But for now, that is all. Read and Review. See you on the next chapter!**

**Tiger-Cub684**


	4. The Sorting

**A/n: Hey people. I know what you're all thinking. Yay finally, an update! or maube you're not thinking that. well, anyway, i'm still updating regardless. remember, reviews are very much appreciated, and don't think i won't know if you don't review, coz i have a hit counter and if they don't add up, i get depressed. so, please review if you read this story. Any feedback is welcomed, even if it just a "cool" or "it was ok" any comment is welcomed. Also, cookies for the following people:**

**yogibogi ( i love your work!)**

**discombobulated.shoe (my faithful friend and editor)**

**FlutterbyPrincess (you've been there all the way, thank you!)**

**and that is all. to you three, if you like this, please tell your friends. writing fan fiction is all the more fun when lots of people review. I'm sure you know that first hand. **

**ok, enough talking, here is the long awaited chapter 4. The sorting. **

**Disclaimer: no rights, only wishes for Sirius and firewhiskey.**

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Chapter 4 – The Sorting.

The train had arrived and students were quickly streaming out. Most of them headed towards the horse-less carriages, patiently parked nearby. There was also a dock with many boats on a large lake that seemed to have no end. Standing on the dock was an incredibly tall man with a wild black beard and he held a bright lantern.

"Firs' Years, this way!" Called the tall man.

Simone, followed closely by Lily, approached him.

"Hi Hagrid. How are you?" Asked Simone.

"Hullo Simone, I'm fine thanks. Why don' you and your friend, find a boat. I'll join you in a moment." Replied Hagrid.

James, Sirius and Peter were making their way to the docks to get a boat when James ran into someone.

"Ouch!" Said James.

"Sorry." Said the boy, nervously.

"Don't worry about it." Said James, feeling guilty at making the boy feel so nervous.

"Come on there, four to a boat." Said Hagrid.

"Let's go!" Said Sirius, pulling James and Peter to a boat.

"Into that one, boy." Said Hagrid, gently pushing Remus into the boat with James and Sirius. Remus nervously sat down.

"So, kid, what's your name?" Asked Sirius.

"Remus Lupin." He replied.

"Nice to meet you Remus." Said Peter.

"Yeah, sorry about walking into you; didn't see you." Said James, genuinely apologetic.

"Forget it; it was my fault, I was off thinking, didn't pay attention," mumbled Remus.

They didn't get a chance to continue their conversation as all the boats suddenly sailed off at once and all that could be heard was the sound of the water lapping the sides of the boats, and the loud conversations form the other boats.

Twenty minutes later, all the boats arrived at the shore on the other side of the lake, just meters from the giant doors of an enormous castle that shot into the clouds. Once everyone had disembarked the boats, it was discovered that a few of the boats had tipped and their passengers had fallen out. These students were shivering in the cool evening air. The group made its way to the doors, where they only waited seconds before the great doors flew open and a strict looking woman with her hair tied tightly in a bun welcomed them in.

"I am Professor McGonagall," She announced, her glasses balanced neatly on her no-nonsense face. "I am the Transfiguration teacher here and deputy headmistress. If you would all come this way, we will enter the Great Hall and begin the Sorting."

The students all followed Professor McGonagall into a large, brightly lit room, with four long tables filled with hundreds of students of various ages. At the end of the room, was a platform with a long table that seated many adults, who were clearly the numerous Professors.

In the middle of this table sat an old, wise looking man with grey hair, moon shaped glasses and a beard that was so long, it tucked into his belt. On the front part of this platform was a humble stool with an old, ragged looking hat. McGonagall led the First Years in a line towards the platform, and stopped just before it. McGonagall walked over to the hat, and it began to sing. The song was long and rather humorous, and all about the coming year. When it ended, McGonagall stepped forward and unfolded a scroll.

"When I call you name," started McGonagall, referring to the First Years, "you are to come forward and sit on the stool as I place the hat on your head. The hat will call out your house. In alphabetical order; Allen, William."

A young boy with mousy brown hair stepped forward and sat on the stool.

"RAVENCLAW!" Shouted the hat.

"Bartley, Jessica"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Black, Sirius."

Sirius hesitantly stepped forward, towards the inevitable. He sat down on the stool and the hat was placed on his head.

"Oh, a Black, I was wondering when you would be coming," said the hat, in Sirius' head.

"_Well, I'm here,"_ thought Sirius, irritably.

"Now, I suppose you want to be in Slytherin like the rest of your family then-"

"_NO! Anything but Slytherin!"_

"Are you sure? You're very smart, have natural gift for magic; you would do very well there."

"_NOT SLYTHERIHN!"_

"Well, on second thoughts, I see you have some very un-Slytherin like characteristics; loyalty, courage and compassion. There is only one place for you Mr. Black." Said the Hat

"_For the love of Merlin I hope it's not Slytherin."_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"_Thank god!"_

The hat was pulled from his head and Sirius happily (It took all of his self control not to skip) walked to the Gryffindor table.

A few other names were called out, and various people were sent to their houses. Then it was Simone's turn.

"Elva, Simone."

She walked up to the hat and sat on the stool.

"_Hello Sorting Hat."_ She thought.

"Hi Simone, finally it is time for your sorting. Now, let's see what we have here; courage, compassion, loyalty, intelligence, much experience in battling evil and maturity far beyond your years."

"_You do flatter me, Hat, I'm not always that mature."_

"Maybe not, but I have always known what house you belong to. Now, it will officially be…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Simone was delighted but half expected the answer, and happily walked over to the table, and then sat across from Sirius.

"Evans, Lily."

Lily nervously walked over to the remarkable talking hat. As a muggle born, the notion that an old hat could talk and had the power to delegate the house of students for the rest of their lives at Hogwarts, seemed irregular, but she supposed that if a hat was given such an important job, it must be very good. As she sat on the stool, she experienced a most unexpected thing.

"Hello dear." Said the hat.

"_Oh my, a telepathic hat! Wow!"_ Exclaimed Lily in her thoughts.

"Yes, well, now that is over, let's see where you best belong. Oh, you are very intelligent, have a natural gift for Charms and are very compassionate. You would do well in Ravenclaw, but something tells that perhaps this isn't so."

"_Really, what?"_

"I'm not sure. Call it a hunch or destiny, but I foresee that you are to be in a house more suited to your other and mostly hidden talents. With this in mind, I now decide to put you in…."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily, overwhelmed with delight, gracefully walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Simone. Next was a boy by the name of George. He was sent to Hufflepuff. And a sinister looking girl by the name of Narcissa was sent to Slytherin. As were two thick looking boys by the names Crabb and Goyle. After a few more students, it was Remus' turn.

"Lupin, Remus."

Remus nervously walked up to the hat and, like everyone else, sat on the stool. The hat was placed on his head and the soting began.

"So young man, where shall I put you?" Asked the Hat.

"_I don't belong here, I might as well go home."_ Thought Remus, miserably.

"Don't say things like that, old Dumbledore wouldn't have invited you if you weren't meant to be here."

"_Are you sure?"_

"Of course, I sit in his office day in and day out. I of all people should know. Now, there is still the matter of where to put you. Let us see now, well, you are very smart, willing to work hard, are very loyal to those close to you and you have an unfortunate past, among other things of course."

"_Is that good or bad?"_

"It depends what house you are trying to get into. Any preference?"

"_Not really, as long as I don't have to go home, and also, please not Slytherin."_

"Why the dislike for Slytherin?"

"_The people in that house don't seem very nice."_

"You do have a point there," laughed the hat, "now, for you, I believe that you would be best in…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus, looking very happy, joyfully walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Lily. As McGonagall passed through the M's and the N's, (of which there was a surprising number) James couldn't help but notice the most beautiful redhead that he had ever seen.

Peter was next. He stumbled on one of the steps but managed not to fall, and made his way to that hat.

"Ahh, look what we have here, young Peter Pettigrew. How nice."

"Um…hello…hat?"

"Yes indeed, now, where shall I put you. Hmmm, you have many interesting qualities. How about…"

"GRYFFFINDOR!"

Peter jumped up and rushed hurriedly to his new friends, (almost forgetting to take the hat off). Meanwhile, James was still admiring Lily. He was so captured by her beauty, that McGonagall had to call his name twice before he remembered what he was doing, and walked up to the Sorting Hat.

"Potter, James."

James walked up to the stool and the Hat enclosed around James' head, covering his ears and shutting him off from all sound outside. He wondered why this part was never mentioned in the countless conversations with his cousin Iggy, who he later spotted further down the Gryffindor table.

"Ah, a Potter, I was beginning to wonder when you would finally show."

"_Really, do you remember my father and Iggy?"_

"Of course I do. I remember every student I have ever sorted. Now, there is the matter of where to place you."

"_Okay."_

"Let us see; you seem to have all the qualities suited to a life in Gryffindor, like all your family before you; Loyalty, courage, intelligence and, oh, look at that, there's something I haven't seen before, Maturity; not very much, but maturity none the less. It seems you defiantly got that from your mother. Ah, and a passion for pranks. I believe that you will fit perfectly in…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

James hopped up and excitedly walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Sirius, all with a goofy grin on his face.

The group of waiting First Years had greatly diminished by this point. In fact, there were only five children left. Next was a shy girl by the name of Amelia O'Malley who was sorted into Hufflepuff. Then, the name of a boy, who would become one of the most un-liked people in the school, was called.

"Severus, Snape."

Snape walked up to the hat, wearing his usual grim frown. He sat on the stool and the ancient hat was placed in his greasy black hair.

"Oh well, it is very obvious where you should be."

"Just say it Hat!" commanded Snape

"Fine-- " said the hat, wanting to get away from this child as soon as possible.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Snape walked over to the Slytherin table, with a smug look on his face and was greeted by the cheerful older students, all drunk off their enthusiasm to beat all the other houses in another year.

The last three students, two boys and a girl, were placed in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor respectively, and sat at their tables. Once everyone was seated, the old man at the centre of the main table stood up and the room fell silent.

"Welcome students, to another year of fun, learning and good food, that is Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Said the Man, in a voice so powerful that it echoed around the room. "I trust you all had restful and sunny holidays. For those of you new to the school, I am the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore. I personally welcome all of you to this wonderful place where you will spend the most of the next seven years. Now on to some important announcements. Tomorrow our grounds will be very much changed. I will tell you all about this tomorrow before dinner when all the details have been collected. Also, Mr Filch has updated his list of forbidden items. The new additions are Meat-Eating Book Bags and Mind-Control Hats. A complete list of the forbidden items is on the door to Mr Filch's office. That is all I have to say for now, so without further ado, lets eat!"

Albus clapped his hand and suddenly the tables were laden with dozens of dishes of all the food imaginable. Roasts, pies, casseroles, vegetables, salads, and almost everything one could ever ask for dinner.

The feast went on for a long time, concluding with the most delicious desserts. Soon, however it was time for everyone to retire to their dormitories. All the first years were led by their house prefects to their dorms and showed how to enter the portal with the password "Bumble bee".

James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all headed down the spiralling staircase, as instructed and came to their dorm, which was marked by a small black-board sign with their names. All four of them immediately fell asleep, full of food and weary from the days' events.

The girls, however, had made their way up the staircase to their dorm. Lily and Simone were put in a dorm with two other girls: Emily Metric and Kylie Smith. They stayed up for a little while talking, but soon succumbed to a sweet and deep sleep.

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**What did you people think? yea or nea? Oh, I know, lets play a game. Whoever tells me their favourite quote/sentence from this chapter gets vertial chocolate and cookies. Anyway, the reason for the delay was School, Exams, Exam revision and my editor's school, exams and exam revision. Thankfully all that is over and the six other chapters I have written should be updated here alot quicker than the others have been. **

**Bye for now and please Read and Review!**


	5. The First Day

**A/n: Hey readers. Glad to see you again. I hope you like this chapter. You don't have to, but it's nice if you do. R&R, but if you flame, keep them constructive. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

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Chapter 5 – The First Day

It was early in the morning. Simone was walking the corridors, her soft shoes only padding on the cold stone floor. She came to a life-sized statue of a grimacing gargoyle.

"Peppermint squares," said Simone, stifling a yawn.

The gargoyle burst into life and carefully stepped aside, revealing an arched doorway with a spiral staircase inside it, before it reverted back to its stony existence. Simone stepped through the archway and climbed the stairs. She heard the Gargoyle go back to its original place, guarding the entrance. When she got to the top of the stairs, Simone knocked twice on the wooden door.

"Come in." Called a voice from inside.

Simone opened the door and stepped into the large circular room.

"Good Morning Uncle." She said.

"Good morning to you too Simone. Lovely to see you again. It has been far too long."

"Only a month."

"A month is along time to go without seeing your loved ones. I did miss you. How are things?"

"Good I suppose…" said Simone, walking towards her uncle and collapsing in the big, comfy armchair opposite him.

"I suppose?"

"Well, I guess it has been okay, I mean, I am doing well in the Muggle School, as always, my friends are all fine and there hasn't been much trouble in any of the realms. It's all been pretty quiet."

"Then what is the problem?"

"It's _too_ quiet. Kind of like the calm before the storm. I can tell something big will happen soon, but I have no idea what and how I can prepare for it. It's a very annoying feeling to have. Especially now I am here at Hogwarts. How am I supposed to concentrate on my studies if I am worrying about some big unknown tragedy about to happen?"

"Hmm, I see, well, I suppose you will have to try and ignore this future disaster for now and try and concentrate here. It is worrying, but there is not point on getting all stressed out over something that hasn't even happened yet. You should stay alert, but until something actually goes wrong, why not relax a bit and have some fun. After all, if you get all worked up about what might happen, you will be in no shape to deal with it when it does happen. And besides, it is an important part of your training to complete the seven years here, so it would be wise to not be too distracted."

"That is nearly impossible considering everything!"

"Maybe, but you must try. As long as you try your best here, there will be no problem and you will one day look back and see these years as some of the best."

"I will try, but do I really have to use the wand?"

"Yes, Simone, you must use the wand in all your lessons, like everyone else. It would be unfair for them if you just used your normal magic, and using your wand is a part of your training too."

"Fine. Now, what's with this business about the grounds?"

"Ah, that is what I originally called you here to talk about. This morning, we have received a new tree."

"A tree? Is this what all the big mystery is about, a tree?"

"It isn't just any tree, it is a Whomping Willow. A rare tree that has come into our possession for a specific purpose."

"And that is…"

"One of our new students is, well, he's a werewolf. The tree is there to guard an entrance to the Shrieking Shack, where this student will go every month during the full moon, so he does not endanger any of our other students. This is the precaution we have taken so this poor boy can attend school here. Otherwise he would not be able to receive an education, and I don't have to tell you how terrible that would be."

"Oh, so that is why you couldn't come with me to the station. I don't suppose you are going to tell me who this boy is, are you?"

"No."

"Thought so. Anyway, is there anything I can do?"

"Yes. This tree is rather violent. It isn't even full grown yet, but already it is very big and even more violent than usual as it doesn't appear to like being out of the ground, and no-one can get near enough to plant it or use a spell to do so."

"And you want me to coax it with my mighty ability to communicate with plants and then plant it?"

"If you don't mind."

"I'd love to!"

"Just as I suspected."

An hour later, Simone and Lily were sitting together in Transfiguration. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter (who had all bonded surprisingly quickly, literally overnight!) were all sitting at the table behind them, franticly whispering.

"…So, it's a deal," said Sirius, "with your firecrackers, James, we'll sneak into the Slytherin common room, with the help of Remus' smarts, and then, using Peter as a distraction, we will plant the crackers under the lounge chairs, hook up these sensor squares that I got from a dodgy joke shop, and as soon as one of those greasy Slytherins try to sit down…KABOOM! And we sit back and watch an entire house run around terrified."

"Until someone with sense knocks it out the window, of course." Interjected James.

"Let's just hope that doesn't happen for a while." Concluded Sirius.

"Apart from the fact that this whole idea is senseless, stupid and could land us all with a month's worth of detentions, there is still the annoying matter of visibility. We're sure to been seen; they're not blind!" Said Remus, bringing their plans unceremoniously back to reality.

"I might have a solution to that problem--" started James.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Pettigrew and Mr Lupin, I am terribly sorry for disrupting your conversation, which is obviously more important than Transfiguration, but may I remind you that you have a test next week on this very lesson. Now if anyone of you cannot turn your buttons into ladybirds in the next twenty seconds, you all get detention." Said Professor McGonagall, in her usual strict, 'no-nonsense' voice.

Effortlessly, James and Sirius flicked their wands in unison and their buttons were instantly turned into bright red ladybirds. Remus took a few flicks, but soon his button was transformed, even if it was still blue. Poor Peter, however, tried, but to no avail. Luckily Sirius subtly transfigured his button for him.

"Well, it appears that you are ready for the test, but Mr Black, I ask that you let Mr Pettigrew learn it for himself, next time." McGonagall said, her voice full of warning.

"That's amazing! It took me at least five minutes to make my button even remotely bug-like!" said Lily.

"Must be naturally talented" Offered Simone.

"You mean, just like you."

"Naturally" said Simone with mock seriousness.

During lunchtime, while almost everyone was in the Great Hall, Simone, Albus Dumbledore and Professor Sprout, the new Herbology Professor, were all outside on the small hill with a rather violent tree, standing two metres high and angrily whipping the air around it.

"Are you sure is it safe to allow a First Year plant this tree?" asked Sprout, nervously.

"Simone is no ordinary First Year, Professor Sprout; she is perfectly capable of dealing with this aggressive plant." Replied Albus.

Simone walked up to the tree, in a sort of magical state. She had surrounded herself with a mild wind and was emitting a reasonably strong, golden glow, all for effect. Her golden hair whipped around her face, and her robes threatened to come off. She slowly and fearlessly walked up to the wild plant, which was thrashing around in its tiny pot.

'_**Be not afraid'**_ Simone telepathically communicated to the plant, **'I _am here to help you._**_'_

The plant stopped thrashing and cocked its branches, as if listening.

'_**If you be still for just a few moments, I promise I will release you from your tiny pot and deep into the ground.'**_

The plant sent Simone one word, back through the telepathic link she had opened up.

'_Okay._'

Simone channelled her power from her inner core to her hands. Her hands glowing, she made the motion to lift them up, and on the top of the hill, a neat chunk of the earth, a metre wide and deep, lifted up into the air, revealing part of a wooden tunnel, and put the earth down a little distance away. Then, she approached the tree, picked it up at its base, carried it over to the hole and gently dropped it in.

Simone levitated the pile of dirt again, and poured it in the hole, filling it up around the tree. After quickly patting the dirt and watering the tree, with a shower from a small cloud that Simone had summoned, she stepped back and let the Whomping Willow go about releasing its roots and settling around the large wooden tunnel.

"And that is how you plant a tree!" said Simone, triumphantly.

"Amazing!" exclaimed Sprout.

"I told you she was good." Chuckled Albus.

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**What did you all think? Like? maybe not? you can help me my reviwing, and if you're a fellow Marauder Author, or any author, you'll understand how much we like reviews, but preferably if they are posetive. **

**See you all on the next chapter. **


	6. Pranks and their Consequences

**A/n: Hello people. Welcome to chapter 6. Glad to have people who keep reviwing to almost every chapter. It makes me feel all good inside. Thank you. I liked this chapter. There was going to be a different Chapter 6, but then i realised i ahd to mention certian things and that chapter was bumped down a place to make room for this. How fun!**

**heres a royal list of my wonderful reviewers:**

**FlutterbyPrincess **

**Discombobulated.shoe. **

**Thanks you two, you are great!**

**Ok, enough stalling. Heres chapter 6!**

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Chapter 6 – Pranks and their Consequences.

A week later Remus was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, quietly reading a book Simone had suggested. It was very interesting and all about the local magical and normal wildlife of the area. Surprisingly, Grey Wolves were not strangers to the Forbidden Forest.

'_At least I'll have some company during full moon.' _Remus thought.

James was in the corner teaching Peter how to play magical chess.

"It's really quite simple. The pawns move one space each, except for the first move, and they cannot move backwards. Castles can move as far as they want, as long as it is either forward or to the side. No diagonals." James explained calmly.

"But I thought the horses moved on the side." Said Peter, confused.

"No, and they're called Knights."

"Ahh! Why did that castle just smash my horse?"

"Looks like this will take a while." Said James, shaking his head.

Simone sat at one of the desks reading a book of her own, all about dragons and their habits.

Suddenly the portal burst open and in stormed an angry Sirius.

"I don't believe it!" He shouted.

"Inside voice Sirius, inside voice." Reminded Simone.

"What's wrong?" asked James.

"I just spent the last hour polishing all the trophies in the trophy room, without magic!"

"Ouch, there are a lot of trophy's in that room. What did you do?" asked Simone.

"I only broke Snape's nose."

"When?" Asked Peter.

"On the train. But that's not fair; the git deserved it!"

"Who gave you the detention?" Asked Simone.

"Some crazy lady with wild red hair."

"And green glasses?"

"Yeah, do you know who she is?"

"Yes, that's Judith…I mean Professor Peachy. She goes a little overboard with her classes sometimes, but usually nice."

"Nice enough to give me detention!"

"Well, you did break someone's nose, even if it was Snape. If she had been

McGonagall, you would have had detention for a week. You're pretty lucky."

"Yeah right. And that's not the worst of it: I had Snape flinging insults at me the whole time. I so wanted to break his big nose again, but some prefect was watching us. And Peachy had taken away my wand."

"Don't worry mate, we'll get him back." Reassured James.

"How?" asked Sirius.

"With that plan we devised in transfiguration, remember?"

"Oh yeah, do you have a solution to our visibility?"

"Yes I do. Upstairs lads!"

"Oh, okay, I guess I'll just stay here and read." Said Simone, in mock offence.

"Oh, well…"

"Don't worry, I'll stay here, just remember, I know all the passwords to all the castle portals."

"You do?"

"Yep, why, do you need one?" She asked, purposely making them fall for the trap of including her.

"Yes, well we could use one." Said James.

"What will it cost?" Asked Sirius.

"I'd happily tell you what you need to know for free, as long as you tell me what you need it for. I won't have you sneaking into the prefects bathroom."

"But she's a girl! She can't come into our dorm!" Said Peter.

"Oh I can go anywhere in the school I want." Simone replied.

"Well, it seems there is only one way to settle all this," said Remus, speaking up for the first time, "Simone, you can come with us upstairs, but I hope you won't make a habit of it."

"Of course not. What kind of person do you take me for?"

"A sneaky one." Replied Sirius.

In the boy's dorm… 

"Okay lads, and lady, I am about to show you all something that could change your lives forever." Said James, dramatically. He went over to his trunk, reached in, (very slowly to build suspense), and pulled out something silvery and silky.

"I don't believe it!" Said Sirius, dumbstruck.

"Oh My God, this is unbelievable!" Said Simone, equally shocked.

"How on earth did you get that?" Said Remus.

"I don't get it. What is it?" Asked Peter, slow as usual on the uptake.

"Peter, it's an Invisibility Cloak!" Said Simone.

"Yep. It's a family heirloom. We've had it in the family for three generations. It's a tradition to use it for pranks and the like at Hogwarts, so I thought, 'Why break tradition?'" Said James, beaming.

"This is so amazing. James… it's… it's…this is even better than all the firecrackers!" Said Sirius.

"And this is how we will pull off the prank on the Slytherins without being seen." Said James.

The next night, after much fine tuning and planning, the four boys set off towards the Slytherin dorm, all under James' invisibility cloak, at six in the morning. Armed with the password given to them by Simone, who did hold up her end of the bargain, and all the equipment needed, they walked quietly as ghosts along the empty corridors. Quietly as quiet ghosts, not like the poltergeist or Helga, the rarely seen Viking ghost who made noise equal to that of ten African elephants whenever she walked past.

After ten minutes of travelling the dungeons, they finally found their way to the large painting of a giant snake.

"Snake Venom." Sirius whispered and the painting hissed before opening for the invisible boys. Luckily the snake was half asleep and did not notice that he couldn't see the people he opened for.

The boys crept through the protal, made sure the common room was clear, and got to work. They planted the five firecrackers under a comfy looking armchair and Sirius placed the sensor pad under the cushion. By this stage it was 7 o'clock and the boys quickly got back under the cloak as the first person awoke and came down stairs. It was Sirius' hated cousin Narcissa.

'_I hope she sits on the chair!'_ thought Sirius.

But to his dismay, she sat on the long couch instead.

'Damn!' 

Time passed and more people trickled out of the dorms and into the common room, but no-one sat on the chair.

'_What it wrong with these people?!'_ thought James, _'Just sit on the chair!'_

But then their prayers were answered. Snape slowly walked down the stairs and into the room. A couple of people grunted "Hi", revealing to the boys that perhaps Snape did have what one could call friends. To their joy, Snape groggily walked over to the armchair and collapsed down. Instantly, all five crackers set off and zoomed around the room. The room was filled with the shrieks of people scared out of their wits as they ran around panicking, covering their heads.

Struggling to suppress their laughter, the boys quickly ran back out the portal and out of the dungeons. Once back in their common room, they burst out laughing, causing many confused looks from early rising Gryffindors. James had managed to whip off his cloak while they were running and stuff it down his shirt.

"Did it go well?" Asked Simone, coming over to them.

"You bet it did!" Said Sirius delightfully in between laughter.

"Yeah, thanks for the help Simone." Said Remus.

"Your welcome. As long as Snape got what he deserved." She said.

"He certainly did!" Said James triumphantly

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**As always, i hope you liked that chapter. Hopefully, the relationships and such will become more defined soon, and of course, more humor. Becasue there is nothing more fun to write than a fic that's funny. R&R and see you soon.**


	7. Wolfish Secrets

**A/n: Chapter 7, wherein Secrets are told and a promise is made. **

**(yes, i'm keeping the beforewords short now)**

**Disclaimer: I only own Simone. If anyone tries to take her...by god, you'll wish you had sooo many lemons!**

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Chapter 7 – Wolfish Secrets 

It was early December, and the whole school was excited because of the coming holidays. It was Transfiguration again, and this time, Lily was worried. For starters, she was sitting all alone. She hadn't seen Simone since breakfast, and now it was the afternoon, Lily was beginning to get very worried. Next to her, she couldn't help but notice the boys looked a little down too. James wasn't staring dreamily at her, like he usually did, and Sirius wasn't his usual cocky self. Peter looked absolutely miserable, but that could have also been because the tea cosy, that he was supposed to be turning into a lamp, kept trying to bite him.

Then it occurred to her: '_Where is Remus?' _

Meanwhile, Simone was in the hospital wing. A large gash, running from her wrist to her elbow was slowly spilling blood all on the bed sheets. Madame Pomfrey was bent over the wound, attempting, and failing, to clean up the large cut.

"How in the world did you get this Simone?"

"Oh, just a fight with a Muleagle."

"A Muleagle? What is that?"

"Not quite a Mule, not quite a Beagle. It's the cutest part donkey, part dog, demon I've ever faced. Too bad it had to be banished to the underworld, but I suppose it's for the best."

"It sounds strange."

"Oh, it is, but I'm used to those kinds of weird, cross animal demons. All part of the job. Now, if you stopped fussing over my arm, I might be able to heal it."

"Nothing is working, this Muleagle must have been tainted with something."

"I think I will be the judge of wether I can be healed or not, since I _am_ a qualified Healer, now, for god's sake, step back woman!"

Madame Pomfrey stepped back and Simone held her other hand over my gaping wound. It glowed as she attempted to use pure healing magic to close the gash, but her efforts were fruitless.

"Perhaps you were right in saying the Muleagle's talons were tainted." said Simone.

"What shall we do?" asked Madame Pomfrey.

"Make a potion to cure the toxin, of course. Fetch me some rosemary, two sticks of sandalwood, a couple of cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of rose oil and a handful of snapdragon petals. Put them all in a small cauldron of cold water, mix them around a bit and then simmer the mixture on a small fire for ten minutes. Bring me the potion once you're done."

"Okay Simone." said Madame Pomfrey, as she rushed off to fetch the ingredients.

"Finally, peace and quiet," Simone sighed and lay back on the bed. "At least my gash has stopped bleeding."

"Simone?" asked a mysterious voice from behind the curtain next to her.

"Remus, is that you?" Simone clicked her fingers and the curtains flew open, revealing the pale boy in bed just metres away.

"What are you doing here Remus?" asked Simone.

"Oh…I was just…not feeling…too well…" muttered Remus.

"Right…" replied Simone, not believing one word.

'_Hmm, I know there is something he isn't telling me…_' thought Simone, '_I remember last night was full moon. Wait a second, full moon, away every month, the scars, Remus is a…_'

"Werewolf!"

"Excuse me?" asked Remus, startled.

"You're a werewolf. It all makes sense now. You being away all the time, your scars, you're a werewolf!"

"Oh, God, Please don't hate me!"

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?"

"Because I kept it from you all. They're all going to hate me!"

"What? Remus, look at me." Simone commanded, coming over to him. "No one is going to hate you. I have tons of secrets I keep from you all. Even Lily. And I think the fact that you're a werewolf is a pretty good reason to lie to your friends."

Remus looked at Simone.

"You really think so?"

"Remus, I know so."

"…Thanks."

"You're welcome." Simone smiled. "So, I was wondering…"

"What?"

"Well, I've never actually met a werewolf before, well not when he isn't in transformation anyway, so I was wondering if I could as you a few questions."

"I guess so."

"Cool, ok, so firstly, does it hurt when you transform?"

"Ten times worse than death, every second it feels like my skeleton will burst through my skin and my muscles will snap from the tension."

"Ouch!"

"Indeed."

"Do you get lonely, as a werewolf?"

"Most of the time I can't help but attempt to destroy everything in sight, but in the quiet modes, when I'm less destructive, it gets pretty lonely."

"Oh, poor you. You realise that now I know this, it completely changes my attitude towards werewolves."

"For the better or worse?"

"Defiantly for the better."

"Okay, now it's my turn: does that gash on your arm hurt?"

"It would, but I've completely numbed my whole arm from the shoulder down. You could cut if off with a rusty knife and I wouldn't feel a thing. But don't try it or I will have no choice but to kick your ass."

"Okay then," replied Remus, trying not to laugh at the notion of him attempting to get out of bed in his state, let alone try and cut off Simone's arm.

Moments later, Madame Pomfrey came back with the potion. After Simone analysed it to make sure it was correct, the used her magic to sprinkle it over her wound. As Simone guessed, the potion did counter the poison, and she quickly began to heal her arm. With her arm as good as new, Simone told Madame Pomfrey to store what was left of the potion away in case it was needed again, and she sat down on the end of Remus' bed.

"You know, you don't have to go through your transformations alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, I'm different to everyone here. I'm not like you or the others. I can do…things. Special things. Like Shape Shifting."

"Shape Shifting?"

"It basically means I can transform into any animal at will, whenever I want, for as long as I want, and also, it's completely painless and I have full control, unlike your transformations. Mine are a form of magic."

"Sounds fantastic, I wish I could do that."

"You and everyone else in the world. Anyway, the point is that, during your transformations, I could come with you, like in wolf form and keep you company."

"I could never ask you to endanger yourself…"

"You won't need to ask, because I am going with you from now on, and you won't endanger me. I'm not as mortal as others and it would take more than one young werewolf cub to hurt me. Even that Muleagle couldn't injure me properly. I am coming with you and that is final."

Remus smiled weakly. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

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**Yay, now wasn't that fun. I know it was short. Sorry. But i'll put up chapter 8 tomorrow to make up for it. It took a while to update cos my editor misplaced this chapter and confused it with the previous one, but thats only cos I switched them around. Abut at least now everything is where it should be. **

**Please Read and Review. If you do, i'll go and R&R YOUR fics, so its a win win situation. Also, everyone who reviewd my last chapter gets many vertiual cookies. I've been giving alot of cookies lately, i'll have to go and make some more now...**

**See ya tomorrow! ;D**


	8. Holiday Fun

**A/n: Chapter 8. Wherein the boys are bored, pranks are planned and friendships are developing. **

**Disclaimer: is it really nessicary to repeat myself every chapter? I only own Simone. **

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Chapter 8 – Holiday Fun

It was the first day of holidays. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all lounging around on the couches in the Gryffindor Common room.

"I am so bored!" Exclaimed James.

"This can't be happening. It's the first day of the holidays, we should be out somewhere, doing something…something." Replied Sirius, desperately.

"Well, we could do those essays Professor Binns set us -" Started Remus.

"NO!" Came the collective cry of his friends.

"There is no way I am spending the first day of my holidays doing work. Work is to be delayed until the last days of the holidays, and then rushed on the last night before we go back to classes, not before. Shame on you Remus for thinking of such a thing." Concluded Sirius, dramatically.

"It was just as suggestion…"

"How about we talk?" suggested Peter.

"Good idea. What shall we talk about?" Said James.

"What about? Why we are still here and not at home with our families like the majority of the school?"

"Okay, I'll go first. I am here because Iggy and my dad tell me that Christmases at Hogwarts are the best and I didn't want to miss it, especially not my first one." Said James.

"I hate my pure blood family and all they stand for. I would stay here during the summer holidays too if I could. Anything would be better than going back to them. Especially now they know I'm in Gryffindor, thank you very much Bellatrix!" Said Sirius, angrily.

"I've decided to give my parents a break. Because I get…sick…often, they have had to look after my all the time when I was younger and I feel that they deserve a break." Said Remus, feeling even more guilty that he was keeping his biggest secret from them.

"I don't like our family gatherings. All those aunties that pinch my face all the time, all my cousins stealing or breaking my stuff, and then there is Grandma Tootie." Said Peter.

"What's up with Grandma Tootie?" asked James.

"Nothing…if you like bats…" Said Peter.

"Bats?" Remarked Sirius.

"Yeah, she has this obsession with vampires. She keeps tons of bats in her house and spends all her time trying to meet vampires so they can make her one."

"Vampires can make other people vampires?" Asked Sirius, bemused.

"Of course they can Sirius, how else would they expand their numbers. Vampires are technically the Un-dead, and how can dead creatures give birth the normal way." Said Remus, recalling the knowledge from a book he once read.

"Oh, good point."

"Anyway, there is no way I am going home for the holidays." Concluded Peter.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well," started Sirius, "What now?"

"We could prank someone…" trailed James.

"Who? We've pranked almost everyone I the school!" Pointed out Peter.

Over the last four months, the boys had indeed pranked almost everyone. The teachers, the ghosts, other students, the poltergeist and of course, Severus "Snivellus" Snape. Snape had become more frequent in his abuse of Sirius, and each time, Sirius and his friends retaliated with a carefully planned and executed prank.

"I know, we can prank Snivellus. Today, he bumped me in the hallway and made me drop my books." Said Sirius.

"But then you tripped him with a spell and almost got detention." Reminded James.

"Oh yeah… But then today, at lunch, he hexed me and made me spill my pumpkin juice."

"Hmmm, I don't think you have gotten him back for that. Okay, let's prank Snape. But what shall we do?"

"I know!" Called out Peter, "Remember that potion Professor Slughorn was telling us about in Potions last week? The one that makes people bleat like a goat? We should get some of that, slip it into Snape's pumpkin juice one morning and have him bleating for a week!"

"That is a fantastic idea mate, I can't believe that little head of yours came up with something so brilliant!" Exclaimed Sirius.

"You're right, that is absolutely brilliant!" Agreed James.

"Wait a minute, the Porytree potion, which is what you are talking about, is really difficult to make and has many exotic and hard-to-get ingredients. How do you propose we make one?" asked Remus, bringing all their little plans unceremoniously crashing back to the ground.

"Well…didn't Slughorn say something about keeping a vile in his potions cupboard? We could just steal it." Suggested Sirius.

"STEAL IT!" cried Remus, "My God Sirius, we can't just steal an expensive potion, you could get suspended for months, or even expelled! You are not stealing anything, especially not to simply prank Snape."

"Well what else do you think we should do? I say steal it."

"Look, you are clearly too stupid to see the consequence behind this. If I promise to get you a Porytree Potion, will you wait and not rush off and do something stupid?"

"Fine, but we're not going to wait any longer than after dinner."

"Fine."

Remus got up and ran out of the common room.

"If he was really that desperate to steal it himself, he could've told us." Said Peter.

"I don't think he will steal one, it's against his morals. But if he does get one, he's a genius." Said James.

"Either way, saves me from a months suspension." Said Sirius.

Meanwhile, in the Library, Simone, Lily and two other girls from their History Of Magic class were all working on an assignment.

"Hey Simone, did you know that Merlin was an actual wizard. Not just some muggle mythology?" Asked Lily.

"Yes, I did know that, and aren't we supposed to be looking up Witch Burnings?" Replied Simone.

"Oh yeah, right. I just got distracted."

Suddenly the door slammed open and in came Remus, panting as if he had run a marathon.

"Remus, you look like you've run a marathon," said Simone.

"Did he win?" Asked one of the girls next to her, not really paying attention.

"Simone…need…talk…you…now…really…important." Remus said through gasps of air.

Simone got up and pulled Remus into an empty aisle.

"What is it?"

"Sirius, James and Peter are planning to steal a rare and expensive potion to prank Snape."

"What do you want me to do? Snape is an arse. This morning, he called me a muggle-born freak."

"No, it's not that, it's just, if they steal the Porytree potion, they'll get suspended, or expelled! We can't let them do that."

"Remus, listen to me. Sirius, James and Peter are not going to get expelled for stealing a potion. You'd be surprised how lenient the teachers are here and Uncle Albus is very reasonable. But, I will help because I don't want to see them in detention when it is unnecessary. I can help you."

"How?"

"I can easily make you a Porytree potion, in fact, if you want to embarrass Snape, I can make it even more effective than the old one in Slughorn's office. Give me until tonight, and I'll have your potion. Tell the guys to meet me in the common room after dinner."

"Thanks Simone."

"No problem, I'm always in when it comes to pranking Snape."

Remus left relieved, and Simone came out afterwards.

"What was that all about?" Asked Lily.

"Did he snog you?" Asked on of the other girls.

"Nah, snogging happens in broom closets, not library aisles," said the other.

"I was NOT snogging Remus, thank you very much Penny. He is not the type to do that. Sirius, maybe, but not Remus. And you are right Mel; the broom closet is the place for snogging. But what does all this have to do with Witch Burnings? Let's get on with the research." Simone lectured the annoying girls.

"So, what was that about?" Lily repeated, but this time, only for Simone to hear.

"Oh, just some problem with the guys. But everything is sorted."

"Care to tell?"

"No, I don't think you would really want to know."

"You know, Simone, I don't get it. You're smart and mature and all that, but you're still friends with those boys. How can you stand it?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm a people person. If you got all my friends and put them all in the same place, the only thing they would have in common would be that they are my friends. They are very contrasted in comparison to each other. And that is how I like them."

"Okay, but still, how do you put up with all their…quirks?"

"I guess I like to embrace the sides of me that most people keep hidden. Like the side that loves to pull pranks and act like a child. And then, with you, I embrace my sensible, logical and other sides of that nature. Do you understand?"

"Kind of. But I guess as your friend, I should respect your choice of friends… Am I starting to should like some kind of Psychology text book?"

"A little. Don't worry. I know you think the boys are just childish and all that, but once you get to know them, they can really be nice and caring. Not to mention loyal. Good friends. It can just be harder to find than in others."

"Whatever you say Simone," said Lily, skeptical.

Seeing that the argument was clearly a lost cause, their attentions went back to Witch Burnings.

The Grandfather clock in the Gryffindor Common room struck 10 o'clock. The boys were lounging on the couches, once again, waiting.

"Are you sure she's coming?" asked Sirius, lying upside down on the armchair.

"If Simone said she was meeting us here after dinner, I trust her to meet us here after dinner." Replied Remus, slumped sideways over the other armchair.

"Tomorrow, can we build snowmen?" Asked Peter, sitting up against the couch.

"Good idea Pete, we can get a carrot from the kitchens. Maybe they'll have some Christmas pudding." Said James, sitting cross-legged on his portion of the couch.

The portrait swung open and in entered the blonde.

"Sorry I was late," started Simone, "Filch kept asking me about ways to keep mice and rats out of his office."

"Did you bring it?" Asked Sirius, impatiently.

"Yes, and a thank you would be much appreciated."

Sirius leapt up.

"Thank you ever so much Simone." Said Sirius, like a schoolboy being forced to be polite.

"Your welcome." Simone rolled her eyes and smiled. She could never be mad at Sirius.

"How did you do it?" Asked James.

"Easy, I got heaps of potions back home. Including the odd Porytree potion. I was saving that one for my brother's birthday, but I can easily make another."

"You have a brother?" Said Sirius, surprised.

"Yeah, he's about three years younger than me and a muggle. I'm the only one in my immediate family with magic."

"What about Dumbledore?"

"Oh, he's way down the line."

"Okay, then. I suppose Remus told you of our plans to prank Snape." Said James.

"You're not going to tell us off or something, are you?" Asked Peter.

"What do I look like, your mother? Of course I'm not going to tell you off. Snape is an arse and I will happily sit back and watch him bleat like a goat for a week. Just so you know, that potion is special. It's more powerful than the usual recipe so the professors won't be able to reverse it."

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Wait a minute, won't we get caught?" Asked Peter.

"That's really something you should have considered beforehand." Said James.

"You guys won't get caught. So many people dislike him; it could have been anyone. And just remember, he deserves it."

"Nice way to justify our actions Simone, I believe there is room for you yet." Said James.

"Room where?" Asked Sirius.

"In our group."

"Wait, who said anything about that?" Said Sirius, defensively.

"Look at it this way: Sirius, if you want my help in your pranks, including getting you rare potions and such, it might help not to be so defensive around me. I won't bite, hard, but I prefer my friendships to be a two-way thing."

Sirius looked at her with judging eyes. "Okay!" He said, lightening up suddenly.

'_There are more sides to this girl than I first imagined.'_ He thought, and then smiled one of his classic goofy grins

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**And here we are, at the end of another chapter. Perhaps i should make these things longer, it seems that we go through them at an alarming rate. So, i give you the question: Yea or Nea. Like or Didn't like. Good or Evil. Whatever. And, also, please, pretty please with a cherry on top and ice cream and sprinkles, review. Reviews are wonderful and it's nice to appreciate any feedback, even if it is just as simple as "good" or "Bad" or "great" or "(insert other one word description)" whatever you feel like writing. **

**Ok, well, until the next chapter, see ya people, and have a fantastic Christmas, or other religious celebration and a trully wonderful and healthy New Year. **


	9. Random Subconscious Or Future Prediction

**A/n: Chaper 9, wherein Simone has a crazy dream, she remembers a broken promise, does some shape-shifting, and James and Sirius finally pull the prank (mentioned in the previous chapter).**

**Disclaimer: i only own Simone. Since she is me, it's kind of hard for Bloomsbury or Rowling to own me. **

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Chapter 9 – Random Subconscious, Or Future Prediction? 

Simone was running. She was in a dark, creepy forest, at night, running. She could hear the footfalls of her pursuers, thundering after her. She ducked as a tree branch struck out suddenly. She could feel the sweat on her forehead, and fear overwhelming her mind. Her thoughts were unusually blank. All she knew was that she had to keep running. Taking quick glimpses behind her, she could see her pursuers wore black robes and strange masks. She could feel her heart race, and she turned forward, concentrating on running. The forest started to become sparse and the trees thinned out. Soon, she could see an end ahead, an end to the forest. As she drew closer, she saw something even worse than the masked people chasing her, a cliff. The ground just seemed to fall away, and Simone had two options. Stay and confront these scary, sinister people in masks, or jump. She chose the latter.

Simone was falling into a great dark canyon, with the ground far below looking sharp and painful. She knew this was the end. Suddenly, everything around her changed. She was no longer falling. Now, she was in a sunny park. Bright, green trees surrounded her. She faced a clear, blue, lake with fat, happy ducks swimming lazily around it. She saw something on the other side of the lake. A man, woman and small child, all sitting on a park bench. Simone walked towards them. As she came closer, the people started to look familiar. The man was tall with scruffy black hair and glasses. The women had long red-ginger hair and, as she came closer, she noticed that she had intelligent green eyes. The child, a baby boy, who couldn't have been more than eight months old, smiling goofily with tufts of black hair and green eyes, matching his mother's. He let out an adorable giggle.

'_It couldn't be, could it? Is that grown-up James and Lily? Must be, no-one else would have hair as scruffy as that. Aww, the baby's so cute!'_

Suddenly, Simone's surroundings changed once more, but this time, she was inside. It was a cosy living room, with a welcoming fire burning in the heath. People were gathered around the room. In one corner, a tall boy of sixteen with black hair and glasses, who reminded her of the baby from the previous scene, stood with two other teenagers; a girl with curly hair and a tall boy with bright red hair.

'_Hmm, he looks little like that guy Arthur in Second Year.'_

In another corner, sat a man with light red-brown hair, five o'clock shade, sunken eyes and pale skin.

'_If that isn't adult Remus, then Remus must have an identical twin brother he hasn't told us about.'_

Sitting a few metres away from him was an unusual girl, with uncanny pink hair. She kept sneaking glances at Remus now and then, and Remus did the same. Both were completely oblivious to each other's glances.

'_Aww, Remus is in love! How sweet!'_

Once again, Simone's surroundings dramatically changed. This time, she was outside again. It was night, and she was in a muggle street. There were two men on the street. One tall with jet black hair and the other, short, podgy and with messy, dark blonde hair. They were arguing. Simone made her way towards them, hearing their voices, but not understanding them, as if they were speaking some foreign language, one that dream visitors were excluded from.

Suddenly she recognised them. The tall man was adult Sirius. He looked terrible, as if he had spent the last three months drinking non-stop. The other was adult Peter, also looking terrible, but like he had been run-over by several lawn mowers. Sirius raised his wand, and everything suddenly slowed. A bright light flashed and a green light ball came out of his wand and slowly travelled towards Peter. Peter did something that looked like chewing on his hand and then he turned into a rat and scampered down a storm-water drain. The green ball passed and hit a parked car and there was an explosion. Simone felt that feeling she had got three times before, but this time, she stayed in the same place. The only thing that had changed was the five muggle police cars parked, and the fire fighters struggling to put out the fire, which had spread to several other parked cars. A policeman had Sirius in handcuffs and was putting him into the car. Sirius looked like he was in some kind of trance. She noticed other people; men in robes who looked suspiciously like Ministry officials.

"No! He didn't do anything wrong!" Simone shouted out, but the people couldn't hear her.

One of the wizards suddenly looked straight at her. A blinding flash spread across the scene. Simone sat up in bed with a start. She could feel the sweat on her forehead and her heart racing a million miles a minute.

'_Oh, it was all a dream.'_

"Are you alright Simone?" Groaned Lily from the bed to her left.

"Yeah, just peachy. Go back to sleep." She replied, shakily.

Lily yawned, "Okay. G'night."

"Night."

A million thoughts raced through her head. What did that dream mean? How did Peter turn into a rat? Where did this Lily and James coupling come from? Why did Sirius drink non-stop for months? Was it just a random bunch of stuff formed by her subconscious, or could it be a premonition? She had gotten premonitions before, but not usually so many in one dream, and not always as specific.

Simone reached for her watch on the bedside table; it was four in the morning.

'_Hmm, no one else will be awake at this time, but I'm too shaken to go back to sleep. I know, a good flight will help me burn time and clear my thoughts until Uncle Albus wakes up.'_

She got out of bed and changed her clothes to warm jeans and a woollen jumper. It may have been minus twenty degrees Celsius, but Simone could endure weather a lot colder than that. She walked over to the window, and put up a magical barrier as to not let the cold in and wake her roommates. She opened the window and took in the night air. Everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow.

Simone chose one of her favourite animal forms; a Wedge-tailed Eagle, a mighty bird of her homeland, and shape-shifted. She leapt up to the windowsill and jumped out.

She spread her mighty wings to their full span and glided over the grounds, flapping at slow, even intervals. The cold night air waking her up, Simone decided to do some areal acrobatics. Spinning, twirling and doing loop-de-loops, all rather strange activities for a bird that should firstly be in Australia, not England, secondly would have migrated for the winter like the other birds, and would not have normally cared for acrobatics. If any attentive bird watcher had spotted this, he may have thought the world had gone crazy, or that the birds were changing their habits because of Global Warming or some other futuristic environmental problem.

Nevertheless, she dived down towards the lake, pulling up at the last second. She spotted the Whomping Willow and decided that it was high time for a visit. Landing on one of its top-most branches, Simone greeted the tree.

'Hello.' 

'_Ah, the Great One,'_ answered the tree.

'_You remember me?'_

'_Of course, all trees remember the people who set them into the ground.'_

'_I guess that means I must be widely known to the tree community.'_

'_Indeed.'_

'So, how have you been Tree?' 'Fine. Birds come and go, sharing their gossip. Not much happens. How are you?' 

'_Fine I guess.'_

'_That is not true. I can sense something is troubling you.'_

'_Oh, its just this dream I had.'_

'_Maybe it would help to tell me about it.'_

'I thought trees didn't dream?' 

'_We don't, and I don't sleep either, but talking about it might ease your mind.'_

'_Good idea.'_

So Simone told the tree all about her dream. The emotions she felt, the conflicting visions, all the confusion. It did help to talk about it.

'_My problem I guess, is that I don't know if its just a random collection of stuff my imagination created to freak me out, which by the way, I suspect it doesn't like me very much, or if it was all some kind of premonition, warning me or something about the future.'_

'_Have you have premonitions in your dreams before?'_

'_Yes, all the time. But half the time, they are not as specific as these ones, or as long, and never more than one per night.'_

'What about dreams, what makes you think it might not be one?' 

'_Well, my dreams usually have some kind of mythological monster or someone I dislike exploding. My dreams are weird.'_

'_Well, I wouldn't really have much expertise in this area, but I believe that it might be some kind of premonition, a special premonition. What you are to do now, I don't know. Perhaps you should speak with that man with the white beard. He seemed wise. The young should always listen to the wise.'_

'_Good idea Tree, I will go speak with him when he wakes up.'_

'_Good. Now, Great One, I have one question. Why does a young boy come to me every turn of the moon, freeze me with that knot in my roots and then go into the tunnel I am sitting on?'_

'_Oh, that's just Remus. He's a werewolf, you see, and every full moon, he uses the tunnel to get to this isolated house where he can transform and not hurt anyone.'_

'_Oh, okay.'_

'_Wait, a minute, Remus!'_

'_What is it?'_

'_I forgot to go with Remus last moon. I'm supposed to go with him so he doesn't get lonely, but there was this problem with one of my charges and I had to leave the school for the day. Great, the first opportunity to help him, and I go off gallivanting with some boy and his dragon. No wonder Remus has been cold towards me recently.'_

'_What will you do?'_

'_I'll make it up to him. Full moon is in five days, right?'_

'_I believe so.'_

'_Then I'll meet him in the house. I hope he forgives me.'_

'_I am sure he will.'_

'_Thank you tree for your advice and guidance. You have been very helpful.'_

'_It was my pleasure Great One.'_

Simone said her goodbyes and flew off into the night. As she was soaring, she noticed that the moon was almost invisible and there was a slight glimmer of sun on the horizon. She flew over to a tree on the grounds and landed on a sturdy branch.

'Hmm, I don't want to go in yet. I know, this weather is perfect for wolves!' 

She jumped down onto the frozen dirt and shape-shifted once more, but this time, her desired form was that of a grey wolf. Simone leaped and pounded the ground with her large paws, feeling the show fly up behind her. She ran, but this time, it was for fun, unlike her strange dream. Now that she had time to think, her first thought was on when she was being chased.

'_I doubt that I would have run from a bunch or masked strangers, if I was in that situation. Funny how when you're dreaming you only see the two options, but when you wake, all these other possibilities are revealed.'_

Even at the age of 11, Simone probably could have taken on a group of dangerous masked people. She had certainly faced worst, including a huge army of thousands of soldiers, masters of killing in all fields; sword fighting, archery and even magic. Yet she faced them bravely and won. Why should masked people be any different?

She watched as a lark flew overhead, signalling that dawn would soon come. She shape-shifted back into an eagle and flew back to her bedroom window. She went inside, turned back to her original form and closed the window.

"Simone? Is that you?" Asked Lily, more awake this time.

"Yeah, I just went out for a bit."

"Oh, okay, well, let's go to breakfast."

"I'll meet you there, I have to see someone first."

Simone walked the empty corridors once more. After going to see her Great Uncle, he had advised her that the Whomping Willow was right, and her dream probably was some kind of special premonition. But it was all still worrying. Simone was certain about one thing, she couldn't tell the others about her dream. She was well aware of the dangers of changing the future when you weren't completely sure of all the facts or what you were doing. It would be dangerous. So she kept it to herself.

Simone arrived at the Great Hall just in time. She sat down next to Lily.

"Finally, Simone, you're here." Said Sirius, from across the table.

"We were afraid that we would have to start without you." Added James

"Huh?" Said Simone

"The prank, with Snape, remember the potion?" Said Remus

"Oh yeah, thanks for waiting."

"Okay, watch this." Said Sirius as he and James got up. They walked over to the Slytherin table and up to Snape.

"What do you pathetic losers want?" Jeered a few Slytherins.

"We just came to see our buddy Snivellus here." Said Sirius.

"Clear off blood-traitors, and tell your mudblood friends to watch their backs!" Said Snape.

"Fine, fine, you made your point." Said Sirius, holding his hands up in a surrender gesture. He and James turned and walked back to their table.

"Did you do it?" Asked Remus.

James held up the empty vile. "He hasn't got a clue."

Moments later, a loud bleating came from the Slytherin table. The whole room erupted in laughter as Snape ran out of the room, bleating like a constipated goat.

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**Did you like? i have so much fun thinking of ways to bring pain to Snape. evil git. Did you like this chapter? i've already written the next one, so all that needs to be done is an editing session by be wonderful editor and friend, discombobulated.shoe.**

**Also, a big thank you to the following people:**

**discombobulated.shoe (she's done so much, have a cookie)**

**FlutterbyPrincess (you've reviewed almost every chapter. for that, i thank you and offer you a cookie)**

**Maraudess (you too have reviwed almost every chapter. thanks and you can have a cookie also)**

**andrea (thanks, i'm surprised someone can get hooked on my story. a cookie for you too)**

**Yes, so, remember readers, if you review, you get a cookie. a very tasty one. with chocolate and nuts. If you are allergic to these things, i have jelly, and bene's. don't ask me what a bene is, i just saw people thanking others with these and thought that people here might like them too, whatever thay are. but 3 years of Italian tells me Bene is Good in italian. is that last fact relevant? you tell me.**

**So, if people have ideas or whatever, i'l always open to new ideas. And remember, reviewing is the most effective way to show you care. sending it to me telepathically won't work.**

**bubye and see you all on chapter 10. Soon, i hope.**


	10. Christmas Pudding

**A/n: Chapter 10, wherein everyone is getting into the christmas mood, there is singing, Lily is nosey, Remus is sad, the confiscation of books is threatened, and there is a cliff-hanger. **

**Disclaimer: no, still don't own, but am working on it. **

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Chapter 10 – Christmas Pudding

Simone had been right. The teachers could not reverse the potion on Snape, so to prevent further embarrassment, he remained in the Hospital Wing for two weeks, until the bleating stopped, but every now and then, he would still occasionally let out a cry that strangely resembled a strangled goat.

By the time Snape was released, it was a week before Christmas, and this meant that almost everyone, who was still at school and not happily at home, was busy rushing around trying to purchase last minute gifts for family and friends using owl-order, or practicing a general handwriting style to write secret love notes to their crushes, in a way that the writer could not be identified.

Although the First Years were not allowed to visit Hogsmeade, it didn't stop the boys from restocking their supplies. James had spoken to his cousin, Iggy, and he had agreed to buy any items they needed, as long as they gave him the money. Iggy was nice, but not _that_ nice.

The bad thing was that the whole school now had to put up with even more dungbombs, trick doorknobs and illusion smoke that many of the teachers were ready to pull their hair out. Luckily, the holiday season brought in a joyful mood so no anger ever stayed long and was often quickly replaced with the urge to belt out their favourite Christmas carol. But not always sung well. One exception was Simone, who could often be found humming along to 'Deck the halls' in a lovely high-pitched soprano. Lily also tried her hand at singing a little 'Silent Night' while she wrote in her diary. And Sirius would often belt out a few verses of 'Jingle Bell Rock' whenever he felt like it, and then suffer the assault of pillows, books and/or bits of food that were thrown by anyone else in the room.

But singing and pranks were not the only things on Simone's mind. She sat quietly one day, on a couch in the Gryffindor Common room, writing suspiciously in a secret looking notebook. Lily, being curious in nature, could not help but notice this. Using all her stealth, Lily quietly crept up behind Simone and peered over her shoulder. Simone slammed her notebook shut.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked

"Er, I was… um… looking at you hair… yes, that's it. I think you have split ends." Lily recovered.

"For you information, I do not have split ends, and you were trying to sneak a look at my book." She accused.

"No I wasn't!" said Lily. Simone glared at her disbelievingly. "Okay, I was trying to look at your notebook." She confessed.

"Why?"

"I was just curious about what you're writing. What are you writing?"

"Oh, well, mainly planning things. It's really easy to write lists and plan things in detail so I don't get all disorganised and that. You'd be surprised by how busy my life is, but I'm not going to go into all the details."

"What are you planning right now?"

"Can't say, but if you leave right now and go somewhere else, I might still get you a Christmas present."

"Oh, okay." And Lily walked off, not wanting to miss out on a present.

Simone sighed and went back to her notebook.

Remus looked at the moon. It's shimmering glow mocking him. _'Damn sphere, why must it haunt me every month!'_ he thought angrily.

"Hey Remus," said James, sitting down next to him. Remus looked up from his textbook, and noticed that the library had gotten fuller since he had opened his book.

"What you readin'?" Asked Sirius, from his other side.

"Just a textbook. For Defence Against the Dark Arts. I'm trying to work out that thing the Professor said about Pixies."

"Oh, Defence, well, me and Sirius will be able to help you there." Said James.

"Mate, you're on the wrong page." Said Sirius, taking his book and flicking through to the Pixies page. "What were you doing looking at Werewolves? We don't learn about them until Third Year."

"Probably trying to get ahead." Said James.

"It's the holidays Remus, you shouldn't be studying." Said Sirius in mock insult. "I'll overlook it this time, but if you do it again, I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate your book. It's for your own good."

"Right." Answered Remus, sceptically.

"Now, what did you want to know about Pixies?"

The Great Hall was three quarters empty, but its halls were still filled with joyous singing and laughing. Even though it was the holidays, the House Elves, all busy in the kitchen, still provided divine feasts every night. And tonight was no exception. Sirius and James sat, with one hand holding a goblet of pumpkin juice, and the other arm around the shoulders of the other. They were swaying from side to side, singing medleys of Christmas carols, like drunken pirates. Peter sat next to them and watched in amazement, as Snape's face got redder by the second at the altered lyrics, particularly one song that told the tale of 'Brave knight Sir Sirius, and his battle with the Giant Nose of Snivellus'.

Lily sat and talked with Penelope and some of the other girls about things like shopping and they swapped stories on families, people in their classes and other things eleven-year-old girls liked to talk about. Lily was so busy talking, that her usually attentive self failed to notice the absence of two people; Remus and Simone.

Remus walked the cold, empty corridors. His sneakers only made quiet thumping on the stone floor. It was the time of the month he dreaded. As he passed a window, he saw that the sun had almost completely set, and soon he would have to walk to the house in the blissful darkness that resigned in between the setting of the sun and the rising of the full moon.

At his destination, he knocked hesitantly on the vast door of the Hospital wing.

"Sorry dear, I'm about to go out," said Madame Pomfrey's voice from inside the room. She opened the door and saw who is was. "Oh, it's you. Well, are you ready?" she asked with more enthusiasm than was necessary for a werewolf on full moon. All Remus could do was nod his head meekly.

The snow squelched at every step. Remus could feel the cold starting to seep in through his shoes.

"Here we are dearie, I'll be back in the morning to come and get you." Said Madame Pomfrey, turning around and walking back to the castle.

Remus looked up at the tree. For some reason, he felt calm, and not dreading the night ahead. _'Life is strange,'_ he sighed. Remus walked over to the near-by bushes and pulled out a long stick. _'Right where I left it.'_

Going over to the tree, Remus reached out and prodded the knot in the tree's roots. The Whomping Willow, which had been peacefully swaying in the wind, suddenly froze. Remus took the opportunity and quickly crawled into the hidden tunnel at the tree's roots.

Crawling in the tunnel was hardly a pleasant experience. After about five minutes, he could feel his hands and knees growing sore from the repeated beating on the hard ground. Finally he came to the section of the tunnel that was high enough to stand. Getting up, he dusted off his hands and knees and slowly walked the rest of the way.

About ten minutes later, he reached the end. Climbing the wooden stairs, he felt for the door above his head. Remus pushed it up and climbed into the house. He looked at the room around him. The walls and floors had scratches and gouges. What little furniture that was there was badly damaged, although still intact_. 'It looks as if there was a horde of frightened animals in here,'_ Remus chuckled to himself, _'but it was only one big dangerous monster.'_

He strolled into the next room, which looked like it might have once been a living room, and gazed at the state of the place. The tables were badly scratched and the couch had lost almost all its stuffing. It was the most damaged room as it was the place where Remus spent most of his time during his transformations. Something dark caught his eye. Remus turned his head to see a dark figure standing by the window. The silhouette looked human.

'_Oh God!'_

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**Oh! cliffhanger! my first one i've ever written. may i shoudl write them mroe often. **

**To me, i think it was a little short. only 3 pages, but i guess it's enough. thanks to all those who reviewed last chapter; Flutterby Princess and discombobulated.shoe. Thanks guys! you are the best! reviwing for just about every chapter, you two are wonderful. **

**to everyone else, please review. if i get enough, i may post the next chapter before monday. and i can tell you know, it is a Remus-lovers heaven. well, kind of, but my editor is Remus obsessed and she loved the chapter. **

**so, read, review and enjoy! **


	11. Werewolf Time

**A/n: Chapter 11, wherein much frolicing is done and Remus get's embarassed. **

**Disclaimer: i did one of these last chapter. all i own is Simone. If you sue you are trully pathetic. **

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Chapter 11 – Werewolf Time

Remus stared at the dark shape by the window. He was terrified. Terrified that firstly, it might be someone that would spill his secret to the whole school and have him sent home, and also terrified that this person would get hurt.

"Whoever you are, get out now!" Remus commanded in the best _authoritative_ voice he could muster.

The figure stepped into the light. It was Simone. Remus breathed a sigh of relief, but it was quickly replaced by confusion and fear again.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Fulfilling my promise to you that I made a while back. Remember that?" She answered, smiling.

"But I thought after last full moon-- "

"That I had changed my mind? Of course I didn't. The reason I wasn't there was because there was some unexpected trouble with one of my friends and I had to go and help him. It's hard to explain, but my life here at Hogwarts isn't the only one I have to worry about."

"Oh, okay then. But are you sure you want to stay? The full moon will be up any second and I can't really be held responsible if I hurt you, or even worse." Remus shuddered at the thought.

"I told you before wolf boy, I'm perfectly safe. I have faced much greater danger and a little cub like you would be extremely lucky to scratch me, let alone bite or even worse. I'm not going back."

Remus looked at her, extremely grateful to have found someone to share his burden with. It had been really hard to keep his lycanthropy a secret for seven years and now that someone knew, and could also help him, it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"So are you ready wolf boy?"

"Why?"

"Because, if my knowledge of Astronomy means anything, the full moon will have risen in 4… 3… 2...1…"

Remus felt the pain instantly. He hunched over as his bones began to throb and his muscles stretched and changed shape. His skin sprouted think, grey fur and he could feel his skull change shape, his mouth and nose growing out into a snout, his teeth also changing. The whole experience was so painful; Remus teetered on the edge of fainting. But the end, Remus stood on all four paws. His tail was wagging slightly and his wolf like features sniffed the air. He could smell a wolf-sister.

Turning, he saw a familiar figure. A grey wolf stood there, tail waging from side to side, tongue lolling out of her mouth, in a stance that was ready for play. The wolf calmly trotted up to the werewolf, and playfully, but firmly, taped him on the snout with her paw. She then ran a few meters, looked back as if to say, "Chase me," and then she ran into the next room. A hurried scampering of claws told her that her plan had worked and now the game had begun.

The wolf-Simone ran full pelt around the connecting rooms; dodging in between chair legs, jumping over broken furniture and occasionally hiding in a small crack, or high up out of view, letting the werewolf sniff around for a bit, before jumping right over him and enticing him to chace once more. On the few occasions that he actually caught Simone, (and when this did happen, it was only because she let it) they tumbled, and rolled, playfully biting ears, grabbing hold of tails, batting snouts, and all manner of playful behaviours most people would expect from domestic dogs, and not wolf and werewolf.

For hours they played, until the early hours of the morning, then the two canines collapsed in exhaustion, and fell asleep, in a heap on top of one another.

Remus' eyes flew open. The first thing he noticed was the light streaming in, possibly from a window. The next thing he realised was that this was not his dorm. After a few moments of staring at the wood grain in the roof, he realised that he was at the shack, and last night had been full moon.

His mind a little slow, as it always was right after full moon, but soon he came to realise something else that didn't quite fit the picture. Where was the pain? From all his previous transformations, the morning after was usually terrible and full of aching muscles, scratches, bruises, and sometimes, even cracked or broken bones. Not that anyone would see those injuries, as his werewolf healing usually took care of them before Remus re-entered society, but it didn't make the whole experience any less painful.

Without this pain, Remus felt free. He marvelled at the miracle for a moment until he realised something else was wrong. There was a relatively heavy weight on his chest, and it was warm. Trying not to panic, he slowly craned his neck to see what it was. He looked with horror to see a grey wolf, its head resting on his chest. In his panic, Remus fell back down, bumping his head. Hoping what he just saw was his imagination he looked up again. This time it was a human. A girl with golden hair falling delicately over her face.

"Simone." He said to himself, sighing in relief. Suddenly it all came back to him. The night before, finding Simone waiting for him, all the games they played. This was unusual, since normally Remus had no memories of his time as a werewolf, but for some reason, his memory of the previous night was crystal clear.

Simone's eyes darted open at the sound of her name. Her mind as quick as usual, she lay there thinking and trying to get her bearings. Suddenly she realised that she had been using her friend as a pillow, and she quickly got up.

"Sorry 'bout that, wolf boy." She said, blushing in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it." Replied Remus, still groggy.

Remembering the problems that had come previously from shape-shifting, she quickly looked down, and sighed in relief to see her clothes had not disappeared. It wasn't common, but a rare few times in the past, when Simone had changed back to her human form, she hadn't always been waring all the clothes she had on previously, if any at all, but she was extremely relieved to find her garments still there, especially in Remus' presence.

"Well, what now?" Remus asked.

"Now we go to breakfast. No wait, it's too early for that. But we can go wait in the common room until the others wake up." Replied Simone.

"We'd better go then." Said Remus, getting up.

"Um, maybe you should put on some more clothes first." Said Simone.

Remus looked down in horror to see that he was only wearing the tattered remains of his pants.

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**Another chapter done and gone. Sorry this one was so short. the next one should be up soon, but don't expect it like, tomorrow, cos it still has to be edited and all that.**

**Thanks to Flutterby Princess and discombobulated.shoe, once again. really great people. maybe you should check out some of their work. i have and i like it. i like it alot. **

**Please read and review. And see you all soon. **


	12. The Marauders

**A/n: Chapter 12. Wherein Sirius is smart, Remus is embarrassed, Simone suggests he go on a holiday and the reign of the Marauders begins. **

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Chapter 12 – The Marauders

Remus was in the bedroom, hurriedly pulling on his school shirt. Simone had magically summoned his uniform and robes from his trunk, all the way to the shack, for him to change into.

"I don't see why you're so embarrassed. It's not like you have anything to be ashamed of. I mean, with those muscles, you are pretty hot," said Simone through the door, her charisma overweighing any embarrassment she might usually have from talking about such things.

Remus didn't reply.

"There's going to be a time when you won't be ashamed to waltz around topless, but I guess you are a bit young for that," she continued.

"Not really helping, Simone." He replied.

"Oh come on, just relax mate, its fine. You know, I never realised you've have a six-pack, but I guess being a werewolf does have its upsides."

"If you're going to continue talking about that, I'm staying in this room." Remus fumbled with his tie.

"Seriously Remus, just chill. It's all right. No-one is scarred for life, it's only me and you in here, and I'm hardly going to take photos and post them up around the school." She replied.

Remus stepped out of the bedroom, his tie almost chocking him.

"God Remus, you go from almost no clothes to more clothes than an Eskimo. Come here." She grabbed Remus' tie and pulled him towards her, before he could refuse, untied his tie, and retied it, to a more sane level than one of suffocation.

"There. Now since it's almost seven thirty, we might as well go to breakfast."

"Okay…No, wait. Madame Pomfry said she'd be here in the morning to pick me up. Shouldn't we wait for her? How will she react when she discoverers you've been here? Oh dear." Remus was panicking.

"Relax Remus. You really need to go to on a Jamaican holiday or something. Just relax. Take a deep breath and chill. I'll just get a message to her briefly explaining some things and it will be fine. Now can we go to breakfast?"

"How brief will this message be?" Remus eyed her suspiciously.

"Just the bare essentials." She smiled.

Remus sighed, but obeyed as Simone pulled him towards the trap door and into the tunnel.

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They emerged from the tunnel into the cold morning air. The snow had almost blocked the tunnels exit, but Simone had managed to clear it away with her magic when Remus wasn't looking. But when he saw the snow gone, he guessed what had happened.

"Simone, when are you going to tell us about all this?" He asked.

"About what?" She replied, feigning innocence.

"Your powers, where you go all the time, all this stuff you're keeping secret. It isn't good to keep secrets from friends."

"You're one to talk Mr. Werewolf." She retaliated.

"Okay, well, good point, but I've told you my secret, shouldn't I get to know yours?"

Simone sighed. "Remus, I can't tell you. Not now. I know you don't understand, but it's for your own good. I'll tell you all later, much later, but not now."

Remus looked at her, concerned at her sudden break down in confidence.

"When I do decide to tell, believe me, you'll be the first one to know. It's just not safe right now." She said quietly.

"I understand…and thank you for being with me last night. You really helped." He smiled sympathetically.

Simone regained her enthusiasm. "Now, onwards to the castle!"

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Lily sat in the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor table, reading the Daily Prophet. Sirius and James sat across from her, having a Sausage Eating Competition, while Peter was the referee.

Suddenly Simone and Remus entered the hall, and sat down next to their friends.

"Here you are, Simone," said Lily, as Simone sat down next o her. "I haven't seen you since yesterday."

James looked up from the competition. "We haven't seen Remus since yesterday either."

"Where were you two?" Asked Sirius, his mouth full of sausage.

Simone had forgotten to come up with an alibi. "Oh, we were just in--"

"The library." Finished Remus.

"Yeah, the library. I was teaching Remus about--"

"The stuff in the lake."

"The stuff in the lake?" Asked James, suspiciously.

"Yeah, like the Giant Squid, and the merpeople, and the water sprites."

"And we lost track of time and fell asleep in the library." Completed Remus.

"I told you he was getting ahead." Said James. "You owe me five Galleons Sirius."

"Oh, yes, well, the thing is…hey Pete, can you lend me five Galleons?" Asked Sirius.

"No, you cleaned me out the time you bet Snape was allergic to chocolate. I can't."

"Damn. Well, sorry James; looks like--"

"I can't believe you're doing this to me again. If you don't have the money, why did you bet?" Asked James, really annoyed.

"I thought I'd win. Who'd have guessed Remus was actually studying, and in the holidays no less."

"I did, and now I want my money." Said James.

"I thought you were rich." Interrupted Lily to Sirius.

"I was, until I spent it all at Zonko's," replied Sirius.

"What about your parents? Can't they lend you money?" Lily quested, having read in the History books about the famous Black family fortune.

Suddenly the enchanted sky of the Great Hall turned dark with storm clouds and lightning flashed across the sky. Sirius wore an expression of deep, pure hatred. He took in a deep breath, ready for a rant.

"Those pureblooded dirty little scumbags are so full of themselves, that …" and Sirius began a ten minute rant.

Ten minutes later…

"…I hate them all!" he breathed out.

"Sirius' family wrote him out of the will for being in Gryffindor, along with some other stuff. He really hates his family." James quietly explained to Lily, who responded with "oh."

Everyone was rather shocked. Even people from the other tables were looking over, completely speechless over what had just happened. Simone reached into one of her pockets.

"Here you go James. I'll pay Sirius' gambling debt." She handed him five gallons.

"It's okay--"

"Take it. Looks like you'll need it more than I do." She replied.

Sirius's eyes cleared and he was stunned at Simone's sudden act of charity. He looked at her blankly.

"No need to thank me Sirius. But next time you should probably make sure you have money before you gamble." She replied, smiling, he usual humour not at all affected my Sirius' outburst.

Sirius smiled back, and returned to his usual self.

"Well, I'm never bringing that up again." Said Lily, quietly to James.

"Hmm." he agreed.

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Simone and Lily were in their dorm. Their roommates were elsewhere, probably in the common room gossiping, as they did.

Lily was busy reading a book she had gotten from the library, and Simone was sitting on her bed, with the curtains shut, writing Christmas cards and wrapping presents, all at the same time. This was possible through her magic and her advanced multi-tasking skills. With all the presents wrapped, pre-written gift tags stuck themselves onto the appropriate present and the pile shrunk. Simone clicked her finger and her trunk flew open. Another click at the shrunken pile of gifts levitated and landed in her trunk, with a timer spell to be sent to the appropriate people at dawn. Shutting her trunk, Simone got back to the many cards. She started to sort them by realm. As she had many friends in many different places, it was a godsend to be able use magic to take care of them all.

"Hey Simone," said Lily, putting down her book, poking through the curtains around Simone's bed and getting up on it, "You know, you could've told me about Remus."

"Excuse me?" Said Simone, with a look of confusion.

"You know, that you two are, like, an item." She replied.

"Huh? Wait a sec. Are you telling me that you think me and Remus are dating?"

"Well, yes. I mean, it's so obvious."

"Lily, you've got it all wrong. I am NOT going out with Remus."

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, he's nice and he's a great friend, but he's just, I dunno, not my type." Simone went on. "Besides, you know as well as I do that these boys are way too young to even consider that kind of commitment. I mean, Remus is by far the most mature, but even he is still too young to actually 'go out' with someone. We're 11 years old for Christs sake!"

"Then what are you doing with him all the time? You two are always so mysterious."

"That, my friend, is classified information."

"If you two aren't going out then why do aren't you telling me what you're really doing?"

"Lily, I swear to you that we're not 'an item' as you put it. Trust me Lils, if and when I ever go out with a guy, you'll be the first person I tell."

"Really?"

" 'Course, you're my best bud, why would I tell anyone else before you?"

Lily looked much happier after this, and then went along to tell Simone about her book and how interesting it was.

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In the boy's dorm…

"You know, lads, I've been thinking." Said Sirius.

"Never a good sign." Mumbled Remus.

"That we, as devilishly handsome, intelligent--" Continued Sirius, ignoring Remus' comments.

"And delirious," added Remus.

"He's talking about all of us, not just himself," replied James.

"Well, that's a change." Said Remus.

"And wonderful, and above all, modest…what was I talking about?" Said Sirius.

"About how great we are?" Suggested Peter.

"Oh yeah. Anyway, I was thinking, that we need a name. You know, as a group."

"What about Simone?" Asked Peter.

"Well, she's really only a part member, but because she's so useful, Simone will continue to help us now and then. But technically, she's not IN the group. Anyway, I, Sirius Black, prepose we have a name for ourselves."

"What do you have in mind?" Asked James.

"What makes you think I have one in mind?" Replied Sirius.

"Well, you wouldn't have dragged us all up here if you didn't already have a name you wanted to use." Said Remus.

"Now you mention it, I was thinking of one--"

"We are NOT going to be called Sirius Black and the Dancing Puddings." Said James.

"What are you talking about? I wasn't going to suggest that." Replied Sirius, lying.

"You talk in your sleep." James said simply.

"Damn!" Sirius mumbled quietly.

"What was that?" Asked Remus.

"Nothing, nothing." Replied Sirius, "Here is what I was going to suggest, before I was so rudely interrupted." He glared at James. '_Time for plan B_' he thought, "I think that our name, for all time, should be; The Marauders."

"What's a marauder?" asked Pete.

"A Marauder is a person who causes trouble by means of raiding and pillaging." Replied Sirius.

"Did you just quote a book?" Asked Remus.

"Oh dear God, Sirius has been reading! It's the end of the world! Life as we know it has changed forever!" James said dramatically, and pretended to faint.

"We are not going to rob people. Pranks are bad enough, but I will not become a criminal." Remus said sternly.

"I'm not saying we steal or anything. And food from the kitchen doesn't count. The elves practically give it to us." Sirius replied, flinching at Remus' look of disapproval, "We'll just continue pranking and all that. We're not changing what we do, just adding a name. So we can be remembered throughout all history as the greatest pranksters ever!"

"I like it. Looks like you are smart after all. And to think I let you copy my Charms essay." Said James.

"Oh, well, yes, about that--"

"You can't hide it anymore Sirius. You are smart. From now on I will never let you use my notes, copy my essays or help you in any way with lessons again." Said Remus.

"Even in History of Magic?" Sirius asked desperately, "You know you're the only one who pays attention."

"Yes, even in History. Maybe you should just listen to Professor Binns, instead of sleeping. You too James." Said Remus.

"Damn." Said James

"What about Peter?" Asked Sirius.

"Well, Peter…is just…special. And he needs – I mean is always very grateful and thanks me when I help him. Unlike you two, who just take my work and leave." Said Remus, trying and failing to explain Peter's stupidity to them, without hurting his feelings.

"You say now that you won't help us, but mark my words Remus, one day you'll slip and BAM you'll be tutoring us for the exams." Said Sirius.

James nodded in agreement. "Well, enough of all this evil talk of not helping your two best friends, maybe we should make this whole name thing official."

"Oh, I have a great idea--" said Sirius.

"We are not signing anything in blood. No blood contracts, no blood brothers, nothing that involves our blood." Said James.

"Damn." Sirius looked downcast. "Then how do you prepose we officialise this whole name thing?"

"I dunno. This whole thing was your idea in the first place. I only know what we're NOT going to do." Said James.

"You're about as fun as Remus." Sirius said, "There is one thing we could do, and it doesn't involve blood." Sirius shot a glare at James,

"What?" Said Remus; thankful James had ruled out any kind of blood ritual.

"We could tell someone. That way it will officially be out there. But wait, we can't just tell anyone. We could use the Marauders to cover us when we pull off big pranks, so we don't get in trouble. We'll have to keep this whole thing pretty secluded."

"I know one person we could tell." Said Remus, smiling.

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**Did you like? I thought it was alright. See, a nice long 8 page chapter to make up for the short one. Thanks to all the people who reviewed last chapter. You're all really nice, great, fantastic people. Yay for all of you! **

**Don't worry, this story is going somewhere. I have plans for the later years. And Simone's big secret will be explained soon. Well, next year anyway. I realised that I forgot Halloween. oh well, I will mention it next year. We don't really celebrate Halloween in Australia, so it's easy for such things to slip my mind. **

**Please read and review. I really do appreciate the feedback. **


	13. Christmas Eve

_**A/n: **__**Chapter 13, wherein it is Christmas eve and some new things are tried. **_

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Chapter 13 - Christmas Eve

The Great Hall was a glorious sight to see that night. It was Christmas Eve and the Great Hall was completely decked out in all kinds of decorations. Giant Christmas tree's were in every corner, tinsel and confetti were constantly raining down slowly from the roof and a medley of Christmas carols were coming out of somewhere and echoing across the room. Everyone in the room was at least some degree happy. Even the Slytherins were laughing, even if it was over all the ways they could crush the Gryffindors' in the coming Quidditch match.

Once everyone was settled, Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat to address the school.

"Merry Christmas to you all and I hope you have been enjoying your holidays so far. Now every year, we hold this feast on Christmas Eve, and it is always a wonderful occasion. In fact, we do seem to have a lot of feasts, but I don't hear anyone complaining, do you?" many students laughed at that comment.

"I hope everyone will take a moment during all their snowball fights, present unwrapping and feasting to remember what Christmas really stands for, and to remember all your friends and family, as they have made you the wonderful people you are today." Simone looked at Sirius to see him scowling.

"And now, without any further hesitation, let us tuck in to the wonderful food presented to us this very evening." And with that, the golden dishes that lined the tables were filled with all the food one would ever imagine eating for Christmas dinner; roast Turkey, roast chicken, roast other meats, rich soups, delicious salads, various pasta dishes and there was even a tray of cooked prawns, for Simone's benefit, right in front of her and her friends.

"What in the world is that?" asked Sirius

"Prawns." Answered Simone simply, taking a few and putting them on her plate. "Because we have Christmas in summer, back home, we mainly eat seafood and other summer foods for Christmas. Prawns are an Australian tradition."

"They look weird." Said James

"Try one, they're really tasty!"

"Wow, they _are_ really good!" Exclaimed Lily, surprised.

And because Lily did, James also tried one of the prawns. "It's not too bad. Try one Sirius."

"I'll pass. I think I'll stick to the roast turkey." Replied Sirius

"Why? Are you, afraid?" said Remus, also eating the seafood.

"No, I'm not afraid of anything!" and just to prove Remus wrong, Sirius picked up a prawn, and took a bite out of the little pink shell-fish. "Not as good as turkey," he said, "but its ok, I guess." Sirius didn't like to be wrong.

An hour later, after the piles of food were dwindling and everyone had eaten as much of the delicacies as they could, the dishes were replaced by many bountiful desserts; Ice creams, cakes, puddings, and some desserts from other countries, like Tiramisu from Italy and Stroodle from Germany. Simone had spent some time in the kitchens teaching the house elves how to cook many of the foreign dishes, feeling that the other students might benefit from sampling cuisines from other countries. Sirius dived straight for his favourite; Chocolate Pudding.

"Pudding!" he cried, as he snatched the entire bowl away from the outstretched hands of Frank Longbottm, a second year. Sirius helped himself to half the serving bowel.

"That's a lot of pudding, Sirius, are you sure you can eat it all?" asked James, bewildered.

"Just watch me!" Sirius said as he dug in to the huge mound of chocolate heaven.

Simone looked up in amazement from her Tiramisu to stare in wonder at Sirius. Sirius ate wolfishly, practically breathing it in, unaware of the stares he was attracting. When he had finished, Sirius lent back and patted his stomach triumphantly.

"Ahh, what a great feast. What did you think?" he asked.

Some of the people around him had lost their appetite and pushed their food away from them. Others continued to eat, like Simone. It took a hell of a lot to scare her away from her food. The rest of the people just continued to stare in wonder.

It was late after dinner and most people had gone to bed. A few people remained in the Gryffindor common room. Of those people, were the newly names Marauders.

"Where is she? We can't wait much longer." Said Sirius, getting impatient.

"She'll be here soon. Just be patient." Said Remus.

The corridor was empty. Simone wearily walked down the hallowed hall towards the Gryffindor common room. She stifled a yawn. Suddenly, something flashed in the corner of her eye. She turned, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just to be sure, she slowly spun around, but still, everything was normal. Turning back to the direction she was facing, Simone was startled at what she saw.

A meat-cleaver was suspended in mid-air.

'_Woah! Since when to kitchen utensils float in mid-air? They don't. Something is wrong_.' Simone thought. It seems that not even a floating knife could faze her.

Simone blinked and her eyes changed colour from their usual emerald green to a piercing blue. But her eye colour was not the only think that had changed. Simone looked out with her new vision; one that reveals even the most cleverly hidden secrets. But unlike the knife, what she saw did, however, startle her.

A young woman stood before her. Her white dress was tattered and stained in what looked like blood. Her long brown hair was mattered and wild. And her blood-shot eyes showed only extreme anger and hate. The woman held the large knife threateningly. She was a ghost.

"Ah! - ok then…I don't know why you're angry with me, or why you seem to be trying to scare me with that big knife, Miss Ghost, but it's past midnight and I really don't have the time to deal with your problem." Simone said, deciding to try and reason with this bloody phantom.

"The witch must die!" said the spirit, in a spine-chilling voice. She quickly raised the knife above her head, in anticipation to swing it and chop down the blonde witch, but Simone was faster. Clicking her fingers, a blue bubble rapidly formed around the ghost, trapping her. She banged her fists angrily against the bubble's walls, but nothing happened. The ghost was stuck in the bubble.

"Usually I would just banish you right now, but it _is_ past midnight and I _am_ really tired, so I'm going to leave you here to chill until morning." Simone said, stifling a yawn. "Don't go anywhere." Simone chuckled at her own joke. The spirit banged her fists uselessly against the walls of the bubble once more. Simone yawned and turned away, continuing on her path to the common room.

In the common room…

"Remus, I'm not going to wait much longer." Said Sirius, fighting back a yawn. "It's past midnight and I need my energy for all the present un-wrapping tomorrow."

"Are presents the only think you think about at Christmas?" Asked James.

" 'Course not. I also think about the pudding." Replied Sirius.

Remus sighed. Suddenly, the portrait swung open, and entered Simone to the room.

"Are you guys still up? Do you know what time it is?" she said.

"We were waiting for you." Said Remus.

"Why?"

"Because we have news for you," Said Sirius, some of his lost energy returning in the excitement.

"Oh really. Well, what is it?" Simone asked, hoping it was better then the last time they had news for her. Sirius had revealed that he had a fear of clowns. _That_ was certainly worth staying up to hear. Not.

"We have a name." said James.

"I know. Everyone has a name. Yours is James, his is Remus, the little one's is Peter and that dumb kid over there is Sirius." Said Simone, matter-of-factly.

"I am NOT a kid! And that's not what we meant; silly girl." Said Sirius.

"Then what _did_ you mean?"

"We mean, that our group has a name." Said Remus.

"You're not in the group, just so you know." Said Sirius.

"Well, thanks a lot." Responded Simone, sarcastically.

"No offence or anything." Said James, "It's just – "

"That's ok. I understand. I'm too busy to be part of any group anyways. So, what's your name?"

"It's the – " James started.

"The Marauders." Interrupted Sirius, with pride.

* * *

_**Well that's chapter 13 done. Sorry for the long delay. School is to blame, as usual. And the teachers. Always stacking on the work. It makes the life of an amateur writer very difficult it does. I hope you like this chapter, regardless. The story may seem to be bumbling along, but some exciting stuff will happen soon, I promise. **_

_**Please leave a review on you're way out; it would be much appreciated. **_

_**A big thanks to FlutterbyPrincess and my old pal discombobulated.shoe. for the wonderful reviews. And also for reviewing every chapter. It's really appreciated. Cookies for both of you!**_

_**So, R&R and see you on chapter 14!**_

_**Tiger-Cub684**_


	14. Christmas Morning

**A/n: It's Christmas Morning. Yay! What surprises are in store for out favourite spellcasters?**

**Disclaimer: -sigh- still don't own.**

* * *

Chapter 14 – Christmas Morning.

"Wake up sleepy" said a particularly loud voice.

Simone rolled over, ignoring it. She felt a shot of pain as something bulky collided with her side. "Ouch! What did you throw at me?"

"Your present. and I didn't throw it, I levitated it to you, forcefully," said Lily.

"It still hurt," Simone grumbled, opening her eyes and sitting up, "Why did you get me a present?"

"Ah…because it's Christmas? Why else? Did you forget all of a sudden about last night? I don't see how you could have. I've still got "Come ye merry gentlemen" stuck in my head,"

"Oh yeah, Christmas. Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too. Now open your present!" Lily said eagerly.

Simone looked at the green-wrapped box on the floor, where it had fallen. Clicking her fingers, the box jumped back onto her bed. Simone flashed Lily a knowing smile and proceeded to open the gift.

Inside she found large, thick, leather-bound book entitled _The Seven Great Unsolved Magical Mysteries_ by Ramona Henge. Simone was startled.

"Wow, Lily, this is awesome!"

"Awesome?"

"Oh sorry, I mean, it's incredible. I love it, thank you!"

"Don't worry about it. I know how much you like mysteries, which is ironic since you are very much a mystery yourself, with all those extra abilities and all,"

"I told you, I'll tell you one day. Just not yet,"

"I know. Now, what did you get me?"

"You? oh, um….well, you see, the thing is…"

Lily looked dejected.

"I don't know if it will be half as good as the present you got for me. Here you go!" Lily brightened up considerably. She eagerly accepted the purple package and opened it with practiced care. She was amazed at what she found. A beautiful crystal pendant, as big as her thumb, on a leather cord. She was lost for words.

"I know it looks like an ordinary crystal necklace, but this one is special. That crystal is Melianmite. It is only found in one place in the entire world, so it's incredibly rare, and only a handful of people know of its existence. But the most amazing thing is not its rarity, but its ability. You may know that all crystals are good at storing magical energy, but this one is the best. Once full, the energy will last over a year with typical daily use, and it can also use the energy to healing without any prompting or magical ability of the wearer. And it will also act as an amulet and protect you from certain magical attacks, and prevent you from being scried. And if you look on the cut sides at the bottom, you'll find symbols," Lily looked and saw two curvy lines, waves, on another side, there was a rat, and on the third side, a bird. "There symbols are of your zodiac sign, Aquarius, a rat, since you were born in the Chinese year of the rat, and a falcon, your spirit animal guide. This means it's personalised and the crystal will work at it's best only for you."

"I don't know what to say. This is such an amazing gift,"

"Just say you'll use it. Without giving too much away, let me just say that if you're going to keep me as company, you'll need the extra protection."

"I will this is the best present I've ever received. Thank you."

Lily gave Simone a hug.

"This is one awesome Christmas," Lily said.

* * *

Sirius' eyes flew open. It was his favourite time of the year; Christmas.

"Hey James, wake up!" he flung her pillow at James' head.

James garbled something inaudible.

"I said wake up!" Sirius levitated his thrown pillow so that it was beating James on the head.

"Fine, I'm awake, I'm awake," James replied, batting away Sirius' pillow.

"It's Christmas, it's Christmas!" sand Peter, as he bounced around the room with excitement.

Remus yawned. "What are you people going on about?"

"It's Christmas!" replied Peter.

"Oh, right. Christmas,"

"Presents!" added Sirius.

And so the four boys got up and exchanged gifts. Remus received books, as he had expected. Sirius ended up getting more prank items (especially from James). Peter received several shiny objects (which he was thrilled to get) and James received presents which were predominantly quidditch themed. Everyone was happy with their gifts, and once they were ready, the boys got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

* * *

The Great Hall was full of laughter, as the students who were still there for the holidays, feasted and shared in conversation and jokes, overjoyed by the mood of the season. When the boys arrived, they found Simone and Lily already at the table.

"Morning boys," Simone greeted.

They all grumbled their replies. Remus yawned, again that morning. Staying up late and getting up early was not something he was used to.

"Merry Christmas Simone, Merry Christmas Lily," James said.

Lily looked up from her scrambled eggs, slightly startled. "Oh, Merry Christmas to you too, James,"

"I've got presents for you!" said Simone, as the boys sat down opposite her.

"Yay! Presents!' Sirius loved presents. Obviously.

Smiling, Simone gave the boys her gifts and watched in anticipation as they opened them. Peter unwrapped a shiny, mini mirror ball that spun of its own accord. James opened his box to find a miniature broomstick, which flew on its own. It looked the perfect size for perhaps a teddy bear. James gave Simone a knowing wink, thanking her silently.

Remus opened his present to find what looked like a book. It was entitled "Chocolate Literature" in Ancient Runes. When no-one else was looking, Remus opened the book to discover it was actually a box, filled with chocolate. The aromas tempted him to eat them all now, but he had the self control not to. He nodded his thanks to Simone. The box would be a fantastic way to keep his chocolate stash safe from the others, especially Sirius.

And Sirius eagerly unwrapped his gift to find a brand new Wizard Chess Set. It was made of crystal. Sirius looked questionably at Simone.

"It's a challenge. If you can beat me at Wizards Chess, you will get the reward." she replied.

"What reward?" he asked.

"You'll find out if you win, which I doubt. So, it doesn't really matter…"

"What are you talking about? I've beat you at chess a billion times over before it would even look like you were winning!"

Simone smiled, "So, you accept my challenge?"

"Of course. When do you want to play?"

"I'll let you know. It could be at any moment, so I suggest you get some practice in. You wouldn't want to be beaten by a girl, now would you?"

Sirius grumbled and studied his new chess set.

From the boys, she had received a book William Shakespeare's play, _The Tempest_ (from Remus), an origami crane (or at least, an attempted one), (from Peter), the latest record of the Witchy Gypsies (from James) and a sketchbook from Sirius, because she "seemed like the kind of person who would like drawing and other stuff like that,"

Simone accepted all her gifts graciously.

* * *

It wasn't until well after breakfast, and a snowball fight, that Simone remembered the bloody spectre from the night before. After searching the castle, she found her bubble in a fourth level hallway, but the ghost had somehow escaped. This was a worry. Nothing was meant to be about to escape from the bubble. It had held all kinds of adversaries in the past, including ghosts, but this one had managed to get out. This was seriously bad.

"Oh crap," Simone muttered to herself.

"Hey, Simone, what's wrong?" said a voice from behind.

She turned around to see James, walking up to her.

"Oh, just a minor ghost-related problem," she replied,

"What? Peeves terrorising you?"

"No, this ghost is new. It doesn't belong here in the castle. Which is why I'm worried."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, once they die, ghosts usually choose a place to haunt and stay there for all eternity or until they move on. It isn't common for them to move around."

"Oh. And what does this new ghost look like?"

"Well, it's a young woman, of about 17, in a white tattered dress, kind of old-fashioned…umm, has tangled, long brown hair, and looks to be smeared with blood. Oh, and she looks quite angry, usually carrying a butchers knife."

James froze. "You mean, like that one?" he said, pointing.

Simone turned, and there she was; as menacing as she was the night before.

"The witch must die!"

* * *

**Ohhh, cliffhanger! i've been meaning to write one of those. yea. i've changed the ending here. **

**Ok, so reviews are welcome. Any feedback is awesome. **

**Thanks to everyone who's already reviewed. you guys are awesome!**

**Read and Review!**

**Tiger-Cub684**


	15. Great Mysteries

**_A/N: Chapter 15 - wherein the plot thickens..._**

* * *

Chapter 15 – Great Mysteries

Simone stared long into the mad, haunting eyes of the she-ghost, an unseen wind causing her long, tangled hair to ripple behind her fiercely, holding the blood-stained knife at the ready. Simone felt her heart-beat rise uncontrollably and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The room suddenly dropped in temperature. She heard James behind her let out a small squeal in fear.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and tried to remember all her lessons. She had faced worse than this before…admittedly, not _much_ worse, but still.

Opening her eyes, she said, loud and with all the confidence she could muster; "Who sent you?"

The ghost seemed to be taken aback, expecting the children to run in fear. "The witch must die!" she repeated.

Simone narrowed her eyes. "Who sent you!?" she asked again.

The ghost looked confused. Why wasn't she running? She hissed menacingly.

With her confidence growing by the minute, Simone stepped forward, wand at the ready, and tried once more. "Tell me, who sent you? And why?" she almost shouted.

The ghost shot a tortured look of pain before snarling, and then shooting off in the opposite direction in a gust of wind.

"What just happened?" James asked a few moments,

Simone hesitated. "I – I'm not too sure."

"Has this ever happened to you before?"

"No. Never."

"What do you think it means?"

Simone thought about it for a moment. "I think it means someone is after me. I have no doubt that the ghost was sent by someone. I mean, the only time ghost usually ever go after someone is if they were connected with their death, and I've never seen that woman before. She looks 19th century anyway. Someone must have summoned her to scare me or something."

"So, what do we do? What if she comes back? What if she tries to kill you? Or me? She saw me with you."

"I think we need to go to the library."

"The library? At a time like this?" James exclaimed.

"I need to find out who she is." Simone confirmed.

* * *

"That was excellent." exclaimed Sirius, collapsing on his favourite chair in the common room.

"It was," agreed Remus, "but you didn't need to bewitch the snowballs to chase after me."

"Hey, you did it first." replied Sirius.

Remus grinned. 'Touché"

"I can't feel my toes!" complained Peter, sitting as close to the fire place as he dared.

"It's a shame James missed out." said Remus

"Yeah, where is he?" Sirius asked.

"Not sure. I haven't seen him for ages."

"Well, his loss I suppose." Sirius shrugged. "Do you remember were I put my new chess set?"

"It's on your bed. Why? Going to practice for your big game with Simone?"

"…maybe."

"You're not worried she'll beat you, are you?"

"…no, of course not. I just want to make sure she hasn't jinxed the set she gave me. Want to join me?"

Remus sighed. "Sure. I only hope this set isn't as keen to throw debris at me as your last set was."

* * *

The library was quiet, as it always was, but especially today. Few students spent their Christmas days in the silent seclusion of its ancient walls, the hundreds of thousands of books, standing as great, wise, silent witnesses upon the shelves of the ages, a testament to history. But Lily was one such person who did.

She sat in the old leather armchair, a pile of books she had gently pulled from their shelves, sitting on a table besides her. She leafed through her current book, eagerly reading about the fascinating history of Wizard and Muggle relations. She considered it to be the perfect way to spend Christmas morning, in the many hours in-between breakfast and lunch, after which she would be forced back into the company of civilisation. But for now, it was just her and the books.

But something began to disturb her precious silence. She noticed voices within the library. '_That's strange'_, she thought, '_I didn't notice anyone come in_.'

Closing the book quietly, she put it aside and got up to further investigate the source of the disturbance.

Walking down the spiralling staircase to the ground floor, to the research section of the library, she stealthily crept closer to the noise makers, until only a single bookcase separated them from herself. She pulled a big book out of the way to get a better view.

"I don't understand." exclaimed Simone "This book doesn't mention anything about ghosts being sent after people."

"Did you try 'Ghostly Assassins?'" suggested James.

"Strangely enough I did, but still nothing."

Curious as to what they were talking about, Lily decided that her quiet time was over. There were seemingly more pressing matters than history books.

She walked around the bookcase and sat down stealthily at their table, into a chair opposite them.

"What are you looking for?" She asked suddenly.

Both Simone and James jumped.

"LILY!"

"Geeze, Lily, almost gave me a heart attack" Simone sighed.

Lily grinned. "Sorry. Couldn't resist. So, what are you looking for?"

"I'm trying to find anything about ghosts being able to be summoned and sent after people." Simone explained

"Why? Trying to get back at someone?"

"No, it kind of just happened to me."

"What? Someone sent a ghost after you? Who? What ghost?"

"I'm not sure. That's what we're trying to find out."

"That's horrible. Were you scared?" Lily asked.

"Simone was a bit, but not me." boasted James

Simone couldn't help but smile. "_Sure_ you weren't" she muttered under her breath.

Lily rolled her eyes and James ignored them both. "Well, as fascinating as this all is, I've really got to go. Tell me when you find out more, Simone. I'd hate for this thing to come back after us unprepared." he said, before getting up.

Lily waited until he left before she spoke again. "So, what was it like? Was it scary? James was scared, wasn't he."

"…you didn't hear this from me, but he let out some sort of strangled cry when he saw her." Simone whispered.

"So, it was a she?"

"Yeah, she looked young. And angry. And did I mention she had a knife?"

Lily's eyes widened. "Really? Tell me more."

"She had long brown hair and was wearing a white dress. I think that might mean something. I know there are many urban legends surrounding girls in white dresses coming back to haunt people, but I don't think she fit any of those descriptions. Most ghosts wouldn't run away when failing to scare their target at any rate. It's a real mystery." Simone concluded.

"Hmm,' Lily thought, "Mystery. Did you try checking that book I gave you?"

"The one on mysteries? No. I didn't think of it. That's a great idea."

"Then let's go."

* * *

**Ok, i know it's been a while since my last update. I'd like to think i've improved since then. Sorry if there are some inconsistancies with the story, and since i now know all about Mary Sues, i'll try to gradually faze Simone into a less Suish character. I appologise for earlier chapters. I didn't know any better. **

**Well, i hope you guys liked that chapter, and i'd love to hear any feedback you've got. **

**Thanks to all my past reviewers. You guys are the most awesome people on the planet :D**

**Well, thats it for now. Until next time... :D**


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